Manly man, Donald Trump, the guy that never passes up a chance to release a picture of himself with some young babe at Mar-a-Lago on his arm, has a good idea. He wants everyone running for the presidency to pass a mental and physical exam. I think it is a fantastic idea and I’ll tell you why below. Here, from the Truth Social account of a very dangerous man:
“ANYBODY running for the Office of President of the United States should agree to take a full & complete Mental Competency Test simultaneously (or before!) with the announcement that he or she is running, & likewise, but to a somewhat lesser extent, agree to a test which would prove that you are physically capable of doing the job,” said Trump. “Being an outstanding President requires great mental acuity & physical stamina. If you don’t have these qualities or traits, it is likely you won’t succeed. MAGA!”
Well, Ace, you will note that you are the only president who actually didn’t produce a full and honest physical prior to assuming office and then, once in office, paid off the drunk physician by arranging various positions for him, presumably to “help” him to keep his mouth and records “correct.” But, tell you what, it’s a great idea.
Except, to make it fair, the tests will be done at Mass General (Yes, you will be required to set foot inside a blue state and mingle with blue Americans. We will send Biden to the Mayo Clinic in Iowa), and the “Mental Competency” test will examine far more than just “memory,” or intelligence quotient. This test will be one befitting of the presidency and a man in control of nuclear weapons. It is going to assess full mental health, including possible drug addictions, psychiatric conditions such as mania and schizophrenia, and psychological disorders that could be dangerous, such as sociopathic narcissism. Okay?
Good. And as for the “stamina” test, that is called the presidential campaign, Ace. If the American people see a man or woman crisscrossing the country giving speech after speech and vote for that person, the stamina test is a pass. No one cares how many holes you can play in one day. But if you are a guy who can fly from Washington DC to Warsaw, Poland, then to the Ukrainian border, take a ten-hour train ride into Kyiv and then walk around in the brisk sunshine while air raid sirens ring above, you’re a bad enough motherffffff to be an exceptional president.
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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, SUBSTACK: BIDEN BOLDLY STARES DOWN PUTIN FROM KYIV: A DANGEROUS TRIP ON BEHALF OF DEMOCRACY AND BIDEN HIMSELF
Little Diaper Donny is still sooooooooo proud of “acing” a basic cognitive test. “There has never been a mental test like that! Incredibly tough! Only a handful of people in history has ever been capable of passing it! And I’M the only person who got a perfectly PERFECT score! Honest!” What a dipshit. What’s scary is that he’s convinced himself all that bullshit I attributed to him is true. But yes, I agree a proper mental/psychiatric workup for Presidential candidates is in order. I’ve said for decades that ANY serious candidate (by serious I mean people with some actual qualifications who also have enough connections/resoources to mount a real, credible national campaign – to qualify for the ballot in all states and territories) has an incredibly large ego. Any ego that large, even in someone who has accomplishments we admire is someone we should be wary of.
As for physical stuff, I think some basic fitness assessment is also in order. Trump loves golf but uses a cart. I doubt the members of Augusta National want him fouling their botanical paradise, farting and sharting his was around the place. But is is one HILLY golf course. If someone were to simply hike the fairways, not actually play the holes but walk the route tee to green for all eighteen holes it’s quite a hike. Just tee to green is over four miles and add in the distance from some greens to the next tee box and detours to get around water hazards and it’s closer to 4.5. And as I said those hills get STEEP in some places. Trump would never make it walking instead of riding, especially if forced to carry his own bag (of clubs)! But I’d settle for something more generic, like a two-mile walk/job with a time limit based on age norms. And a bike ride, say five miles. Again with a time limit adjusted for age norms. Hell, when I became disabled I eventually had to take a test to evaluate my ability to perform work, even basic office stuff. It involved coordination, strength (not at all tough btw) and fairly basic stuff but it’s standardized and any physical therapist is trained to do that type of evaluation.
Trump would fail it all. And while he’d have to come up with something more creative than his excuse for not releasing his taxes (his excuse was as everyone but MAGAs knew a big fat lie) to weasel out of it. While hounding others and mocking THEIR performance. But it would be fun to put Trump on the spot.
You’ve walked Augusta?
Excellent idea, except I doubt he would not agree to not being able to “doctor shop” or dictate the specifics of the testing.
I would add a “financial” fitness test as well.
Minimum for the previous 7 years state and federal income tax returns.
None of this “I’m under audit” BS. Required to get on the ballot.
And the “mental” portion has to be more than point to the picture of the elephant and remember “man, woman, person,camera, TV”.
I heartily agree with former guy. Why not have one? If we had such a requirement we damned sure wouldn’t have had to live through his presidency and maybe not even w’s or reagan’s.
Now granted we would need a new amendment to the constitution so I don’t see this getting much traction.
This from the guy who can’t walk down a wheelchair ramp without help, and can barely make 100 feet on flat ground.
Just a note but THE Mayo Clinic is in Rochester, Minnesota. There is a “Mayo Clinic Health System” (owned by the Mayo Clinic) that operates a number of hospitals and clinics in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa (and the Mayo Clinic proper has a couple of campuses in Arizona and Florida).
Damn – Yes, I actually even knew that. I have no idea why I thought Iowa. Perhaps bc my orthopedic surgeon was trained at the Mayo Clinic, but had to go to Des Moines for a year to do the Trauma portion of his residency (You don’t get enough trauma surgery in Rochester to really train).
As my own little addition to the testing, I’d suggest that every candidate for President (hell, I’d actually demand it of ANY candidate, running for ANY elective office) be required to answer a modest civics test (of at least a high-school level) with a special emphasis on the Constitution. Just so it’s not too tough, I’d settle for nothing worse than multiple choice and maybe some true/false questions (on that, something like “True or False: The Second Amendment reads ‘The right to bear arms shall not be infringed'” and “True or False: The United States government has interfered with the free practice of religions with which it’s disagreed”).
For candidates running for state offices, I’d expect at least half the questions apply to each specific state and its constitution.
I had a thought while the above comment was loading but I’d also want some American history questions on the tests as well (with those running for state offices to also have at least half of their history portion be about their specific state). And I’m not talking just simple usual stuff but also make sure that “minority” history be included as well, even if it might upset some candidates over the “wokeness” the questions might evoke (eg, “Robert Hayden was the first African-American to serve as [A] US ambassador to Ghana, [B] US envoy to the Vatican, [C] Supreme Court Justice, or [D] Poet Laureate of the United States” and “True or False: Goyaale was the birth name of the Native American leader Sitting Bull”).
(Incidentally, just for the record, the answers to the above two example questions are [D] and “False”–Goyaale was Geronimo’s birth name. Sitting Bull’s birth name was Hoka Psice.)
I’m failing your history test so far.
And I minored in modern American history.
What’s the number of reps required for the two handed water glass press?
Every candidate for national and State office should be able to at least pass the citizenship test for immigrants and take the MMPI.
Uh, they gave him that 10 question test used to judge whether or not you have Alzheimer’s. If he passed, it’s because he cheated.
I do see the irnoy here, seeing as there is no test which would reveal any disqulifying factors which Trump** could possibly pass, and I don’t see how anyone could reasonably argue that mental competence should not be tested.
But as for physical competence – I would absolutely NOT want to see a test which would have disqualified either FDR or JFK Using the Presidential campaign as the “stamina” test might very well work.
A physical fitness test – like who regularly rides a bike and who can’t walk any distance and has to use a golf cart to go any length longer than a stroll of a few yards.