Trump's MoCA Score Draws Expert Pushback After Walter Reed Memo
Barbabella's May 26 memo said Trump is in 'excellent health' and scored 30/30 on the MoCA; experts said the MoCA screens for dementia, not intelligence.
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Overview
Capt. Sean Barbabella's May 26 memorandum said President Trump 'remains in excellent health' and recorded a 30 out of 30 score on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment.
Trump posted at 12:35 a.m. Sunday that his fourth MoCA produced '120 correct answers out of 120' and called it evidence of 'extreme intelligence,' urging mandatory cognitive tests for presidential and vice presidential candidates.
Dr. Jonathan Reiner said the MoCA is a dementia screening tool, not an IQ test, and that a score of 26 or higher represents normal cognitive performance, not 'extreme intelligence.'
Barbabella's memo listed Trump at 238 pounds, blood pressure 105/71, resting heart rate 73, medications including aspirin, rosuvastatin and ezetimibe, and consultations with 22 specialty providers.
Experts noted that repeating the MoCA at short intervals would indicate a physician is concerned about rapidly developing cognitive impairment, and Trump continued to press Congress to require cognitive testing for candidates.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources frame presidential physicals as political theater and public-relations exercises rather than purely medical reports. Editorial decisions—headline "PR exercise?", selection of skeptical experts (Appel's "ignore that information"), historical cover-up examples (Wilson, FDR) and poll results—foreground public distrust, while doctors' reassurances are presented as source content that is implicitly questioned.