Evidence of Donald Trump's 'dementia is overwhelming,' according to experts

There is “overwhelming” evidence that Donald Trump is suffering from dementia, according to a leading psychiatrist Dr Lance Dodes.

Trump has sparked cognitive concerns in recent months since his 2024 presidential campaign began.

Earlier this month the crowd of his supporters gathered in Richmond, Virginia fell silent as the former president appeared to mix up Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama yet again.

Dr Dodes is a supervising analyst emeritus of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. He released a statement about Trump’s cognitive state, referencing the mixing up of Biden and Obama.

He wrote: "Unlike normal ageing, which is characterized by forgetting names or words, Trump repeatedly shows something very different: confusion about reality.

"If he were to become president he would have to be immediately removed from office via the 25th Amendment as dangerously unable to fulfill the responsibilities of office.”

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

In another statement, New York psychologist Suzanne Lachmann added that Trump would "seemingly forget how the sentence began and invent something in the middle" which results in "an incomprehensible word salad." Lachmann claims this type of behaviour is often observed "frequently in patients who have dementia."

Psychologist and former professor at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, John Gertner also argued that Trump is "showing unmistakable signs strongly suggesting dementia."

Confusing Biden and Obama in Virginia, Trump said: “Shortly after we win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled.”

“I know them both very well and we will restore peace through strength. Get that war settled. It’s a bad war. And Putin has so little respect for Obama that he’s starting to throw around the nuclear word.”

It’s not the first time that concerns have been raised about Trump’s cognitive abilities.

As far back as 2017, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said that people close to Trump say he is in the early stages of dementia.

During his political commentary show Morning Joe, Scarborough said Mr Trump is “completely detached from reality.”

“You have somebody inside the White House that the New York Daily News says is mentally unfit,” Scarborough said.

In a statement to Newsweek, Trump's senior advisor to his campaign, Jason Miller said: "Joe Biden is clearly suffering from cognitive decline and couldn't answer the first five questions of a cognitive test or any other test for that matter.

"President Trump has aced this test twice and is willing to take a third test if Joe Biden sits in the same room and takes it at the same time. In fact, President Trump believes all presidents should take the test."

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