Neurologists reviewed decades of Trump's interviews. Here's what they found.


The health news website Stat asked psychologists, psychiatrists, and experts in neurolinguistics to compare President Trump's way of speaking in 2017 to interviews he gave decades ago. "They all agreed there had been a deterioration," Stat reports, "and some said it could reflect changes in the health of Trump's brain."
Some of the experts noted that linguistic decline can result not just from neurodegenerative disease but also "stress, frustration, anger, or just plain fatigue." "In fairness to Trump, he's 70, so some decline in his cognitive functioning over time would be expected," pointed out New York City psychologist Ben Michaelis.
But others found the stark differences in Trump's way of speaking to be concerning:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In interviews Trump gave in the 1980s and 1990s (with Tom Brokaw, David Letterman, Oprah Winfrey, Charlie Rose, and others), he spoke articulately, used sophisticated vocabulary, inserted dependent clauses into his sentences without losing his train of thought, and strung together sentences into a polished paragraph, which — and this is no mean feat — would have scanned just fine in print […] Now, Trump's vocabulary is simpler. He repeats himself over and over, and lurches from one subject to an unrelated one … [Stat]
"It's hard to say definitively without rigorous testing," said another New York City psychologist, John Montgomery, "but I think it's pretty safe to say that Trump has had significant cognitive decline over the years."
Dr. Robert Pyles of suburban Boston, who supports President Trump, said: "I can see what people are responding to" when they suggest there has been a decline. He added: "[Trump's] language difficulties could be due to the immense pressure he's under, or to annoyance that things aren't going right and that there are all these scandals. It could also be due to a neurodegenerative disease or the normal cognitive decline that comes with aging."
Read the full report at Stat, and read Ryan Cooper on why it's time to start talking about President Trump's mental health here at The Week.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
Zohran Mamdani: the young progressive likely to be New York City's next mayor
In The Spotlight The policies and experience that led to his meteoric rise
-
The best film reboots of all time
The Week Recommends Creativity and imagination are often required to breathe fresh life into old material
-
'More must be done'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
The last words and final moments of 40 presidents
The Explainer Some are eloquent quotes worthy of the holders of the highest office in the nation, and others... aren't
-
Senate advances GOP bill that costs more, cuts more
Speed Read The bill would make giant cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, leaving 11.8 million fewer people with health coverage
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders