Trump brags about his “genius” status, because he could remember five simple words

Donald Trump has never been shy about praising his own abilities, particularly when it comes to his intelligence. But his latest attempt to demonstrate his mental sharpness involved a surprisingly modest challenge: remembering five ordinary words.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Bullhead City, Arizona, on Wednesday, the 80-year-old president spent nearly eight minutes discussing his performance on cognitive assessments, repeatedly insisting that his results were exceptional.

His explanation eventually led to a memorable declaration.

“’Cause I’m a frickin’ genius, that’s why.”

Five words and a presidential victory lap

Trump’s lengthy discussion began with an attack on Arizona’s Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, whom he described as “a low-IQ individual in my opinion.”

The president then shifted attention to his own cognitive abilities, referring to an assessment he had previously completed.

“You know, I took the aptitude test, or whatever the hell they call it,” he told the audience.

Trump described several exercises, including identifying animals from pictures and solving mathematical problems, before turning to what appeared to be his favorite part of the assessment.

Participants, he explained, are asked to memorize five words and repeat them later.

According to Trump, his assigned words were “hat,” “hair,” “logo,” “white” and “black.”

The real challenge, he insisted, came when the examiner unexpectedly asked him to recall the same words approximately half an hour later.

Trump claimed that his ability to repeat all five in the correct sequence astonished the medical professionals conducting the assessment.

“Holy s—, nobody can do that,” he recalled being told.

He also complained that journalists had failed to appreciate the difficulty of the exercise.

“Very few people can do that. They say very few people can do it, but almost none can do them in order, like that.”

The president offered no independently verifiable evidence for those claims about how unusual his performance was.

Trump says doctors had never seen anything like it

Recalling five words was apparently only part of the story.

Trump continued describing the assessment, insisting that the questions became considerably more challenging as the examination progressed.

“It’s very hard, very few people can get it,” he said.

He claimed that one physician had been particularly impressed with his performance.

“One doctor said, ‘I’ve never had anybody get them all right.’ I got them right three times.”

Trump also emphasized that he had not personally selected the doctors examining him, suggesting that some might even have preferred an unfavorable result.

“Probably half of them are Democrat. They’d love to see me do badly.”

The president said he had completed cognitive assessments on three occasions, receiving perfect results each time.

“I took it once, I aced it. I took it again, I aced it. I took it fairly recently, my last physical, I aced it.”

His most recent physical examination took place at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in May, according to the account of his remarks.

A memory test is not an IQ test

Cognitive screening assessments are commonly used by medical professionals to identify potential problems involving memory, attention and other mental functions.

Although remembering a short list of words can form part of such an examination, the exercise is not designed to establish whether someone possesses exceptional intelligence.

Strong performance on a cognitive screening test also does not, by itself, rule out every possible neurological condition.

Trump nevertheless presented his reported results as evidence of his intellectual abilities, while questioning whether his political opponents could achieve similar scores.

This article is made and published by Nicolai H, who may have used AI in the preparation