Biden should take a cognitive test — and release the results

There’s growing public concern over President Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities. It is in the interest of the president — as well as the Democratic Party and the country — to address those concerns by submitting to a cognitive test that would include independent medical professionals. And he should do it soon.

So far, both the president and First Lady Jill Biden have dismissed calls for him to submit to a cognitive test. But the public is growing worried. As reported in The Hill, a recent NBC News poll found that 68 percent are concerned the president “does not possess the necessary mental and physical health to serve as president,” with 55 percent saying it was a major concern.

And notice the poll highlights worries over both Biden’s mental and physical condition. The White House released a “health summary” of the president’s latest physical exam in February, which did not include a cognitive test. If he submits to a cognitive test, he should release those results also. Dismissing voters’ concerns only feeds the notion that the president has something to hide.

Even the media are increasingly willing to mention Biden’s health challenges. Politico reporters Eli Stokols and Jonathan Lemire just ran a story noting that Biden emerged from Air Force One after landing in London wearing sneakers without socks. They claim Biden’s handlers are quietly making age-related adjustments for him. “The new routine looks to be another subtle accommodation to the president’s age. It is hiding in plain sight, although the White House won’t concede that interpretation.”

Before the left has its usual meltdown, asserting that calling for a cognitive test is outrageous, recall that Democrats applauded when more than 70 “health care and mental health professionals” sent a letter to President Trump’s physician, Dr. Ronny Jackson, urging him to conduct a complete physical and assess the president’s “neurological health, including cognitive and mental health functions.”

The letter cited what the signers believed was Trump’s “declining faculties for complex thought, rambling speech, difficulty completing a thought; episodes of slurred speech; frequent repetition of the same concepts; decreased fine motor coordination; difficulties reading, listening and comprehending; suspect judgment, planning, problem solving and impulse control; markedly declining vocabulary in recent years, with over reliance on superlatives.”

While Trump has his anger and communications challenges, that list of indicators sounds more like a description of Biden than Trump.

And a month before the 2020 presidential election, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) proposed “an expert panel … to conduct a medical exam at the direction of Congress to ‘determine whether the President is mentally or physically unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office.’” Of course, the proposal went nowhere. It was simply Pelosi’s way of alerting voters to Democrats’ concerns about Trump’s mental state just before the election.

Trump did submit to a cognitive test. Though he claimed he aced it, he never actually released the evaluation.

What is a cognitive test? MedlinePlus, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, explains: “Cognitive testing checks for problems with certain brain functions called ‘cognition.’ Cognition includes thinking, learning, remembering, and using judgment and language. Problems with cognition are called ‘cognitive impairment.’”

MedlinePlus says a cognitive test may be appropriate if an individual is showing signs associated with cognitive decline. (You can see the signs here.) One of those signs is “feeling increased irritability and/or anxiety.” The letter from the 74 health care specialists has similar indicators, and includes problems with “impulse control.”

A recent article by Axios reporter Alex Thompson explained that Biden is displaying signs of irritability and anger. Thompson writes, “Behind closed doors, Biden has such a quick-trigger temper that some aides try to avoid meeting alone with him. Some take a colleague, almost as a shield against a solo blast.”

Although the story is revealing, it doesn’t address an important point. Are Biden’s outbursts, tirades and demeaning of staff a recent development or a long-time character trait? Lots of people who aren’t experiencing cognitive decline have anger-management issues, including Bill Clinton when he was in the White House, according to Axios.

It is imperative that Biden take the public’s concerns about his mental health seriously. He may be in good physical shape for a man of 80 years, but Americans are more concerned about his mental state — especially since he is seeking an additional four years in the Oval Office. He released a copy of his physical. It’s time for him to submit to a cognitive test and release those findings also.

Merrill Matthews is a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation in Dallas, Texas. Follow him on Twitter @MerrillMatthews.