Why Did Donald Trump Take A Third Cognitive Test? His Latest Health Brag Validates Internet Sleuths

At the age of 79, Donald Trump is the oldest president to ever take office, and it's drawn quite a bit of scrutiny regarding his health, with people on social media frequently noting the large bruises on the back of Trump's hands as well as his swollen ankles. In an attempt to set the record straight, the controversial politician gave The Wall Street Journal an impromptu interview, saying that his health is "perfect."

In the interview, he explained that he had been using compression socks to help the swelling, but had stopped because he "didn't like them." Trump admitted that he also takes aspirin because he wants "nice, thin blood pouring through [his] heart." However, he said he takes 325 milligrams daily versus the 81 milligrams that physicians recommend. This higher-than-normal dose is what is causing the bruising on his hands, he acknowledged.

According to the same The Wall Street Journal article, the president also recently posted on his Truth Social account to reveal that he had "aced" his "third straight" cognitive test. However, instead of setting minds at ease with his brag of a perfect score, this revelation has internet sleuths asking even more questions than ever.

While it's not clear exactly why the president has been taking these tests so frequently — and it could simply be out of an abundance of caution because of his age and the fact that his father Fred was diagnosed with Alzheimer's — experts say they're generally only done repeatedly to monitor an existing cognitive disorder like dementia.

As Sunday Health explains, cognitive testing looks at various aspects of thinking such as attention, memory, language, perception, reasoning, and problem-solving. It may be performed to identify and track cognitive disorders like dementia over time. Sunday Health states that if no problems are found during initial testing, no further testing may be required. However, if any impairment is detected or the results aren't clear, more in-depth testing may be advised.

Speaking to Trump's case specifically, some physicians, such as Dr. Vin Gupta, have said taking multiple cognitive tests is "not the flex" that Trump believes it is."You don't do this every other day and use that as evidence that you're cognitively there," Gupta told MSN (via Yahoo!).

Dr. John Gartner, a psychologist, told The Daily Beast Podcast (via Yahoo!) that performing multiple tests is more typical of monitoring dementia than simply screening for it. "You could maybe justify giving someone the MoCA once, just on their age, just as part of a physical. If you're giving it to him three times ...That means you're monitoring dementia," he said.