Stop speculating about Trump's mental health

He's always been wicked and stupid

President Trump.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

If you begin with the baseline assumption that Donald Trump must be somewhat intelligent to have been so successful in business — or, if you prefer, so crafty a con artist — then you might be left wondering why the president often sounds like a tongue-tied middle-schooler who didn't study for a test, or a beauty-pageant contestant trying and failing to elaborate on her platform of "world peace."

Comparing Trump's recent syntax (garbled, unfocused, repetitive) to extemporaneous answers he gave in interviews in the 1980s and early '90s (relatively fluent and felicitous), the health-and-medicine news site STAT provocatively asks whether Trump is suffering from cognitive decline:

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Scott Galupo

Scott Galupo is a freelance writer living in Virginia. In addition to The Week, he blogs for U.S. News and reviews live music for The Washington Post. He was formerly a senior contributor to the American Conservative and staff writer for The Washington Times. He was also an aide to Rep. John Boehner. He lives with his wife and two children and writes about politics to support his guitar habit.