93…
On the one hand it’s funny, but on the other more serious hand it’s appalling.
No no no no no, says Trump, the last 5 questions are very hard, I bet you couldn’t answer them, I bet Biden couldn’t answer them.
Well one of them, says Wallace, is count backward from 100 by sevens.
No no no that’s misrepresentation, says Trump.
93… says Wallace.
Trump apparently thinks it was an IQ test as opposed to a cognitive test. Maybe one of the questions on the cognitive test should be “What’s the difference between an IQ test and a cognitive test?”
I will say, serial sevens are difficult for many people. When I took a psychological test, he stopped me at 72, saying he didn’t test many people who can get that far. You would hope, however, that POTUS could do it. It’s basic math.
I honestly find reciting the alphabet backward harder than counting backward. By any quantity.
Well, maybe not by transcendental numbers. That’s a bit tricky.
“Count backward from 100 by e.”
(For reference, here’s one version of the test: https://www.parkinsons.va.gov/resources/MOCA-Test-English.pdf )
I agree counting backwards by 7s could be challenging for a lot of people, pre-dementia. A lot of people are terrible at numbers, and subtracting by 7 isn’t something a lot of people do much. It’s 3 points on the test (out of 30, and you need 26 to pass), and you can get 2 of them for only doing 2 subtractions.
The one I think is a little unfair is the delayed recall of a list of words, which is 5 points. I had a relative that lost points for that. Allegedly they were not told to remember the words for later. If that’s the correct procedure (it’s not clear from the form) then I think that could get a lot of people. In my experience even (and maybe especially) smart people tend to quickly forget things that aren’t meaningful or important to them. But then maybe that’s not the case if they’ve repeated the words? (Amusingly after being outraged on my relative’s behalf I have never forgotten the words they missed [apple, table, penny], so apparently anger at perceived unfairness is a great memory aid.)
But, yeah, “acing” this is not something a president should be proud of. And I agree that the dum-dum in chief probably got excited by the fancy word “cognitive” and thought he did something impressive.
Too bad Chris Wallace didn’t take him up on the challenge and take the test right in front of him. Still, good for him for essentially ridiculing Trump to his face. Wallace and Shepard Smith were about the only decent people on Fox News, so they’ll probably push Wallace out soon.
Oh, here are instructions for giving the test:
https://www.parkinsons.va.gov/resources/MoCA-Instructions-English.pdf
For remembering the words:
“This is a memory test. I am going to read a list of words that you will have to remember now and later on. Listen carefully. When I am through, tell me as many words as you can remember. It doesn’t matter in what order you say them”.
So they are clearly told they will need to remember them for later. So either I was misinformed about what they told my relative, they were given the test incorrectly, or it was a different test. Probably the last one, since I’ve found a shorter test that uses “apple, table, penny”.
1. A parson once told me: “to be a successful liar, one has to have a good memory.” I think he was right there.
2. I’ll repeat that “to be a successful liar, one has to have a good memory.”
3. Trump is a world-class liar. Millions will testify to that. Billions even.
4. Therefore (to be continued.)
(I don’t want to spoil my day with too much Trump. And it’s so easy to have too much Trump.)
I would say that Trump is not a good liar. He is just a liar. He doesn’t stick to his story, and he seems not to care about doing so.
Trump is a “successful liar” in the sense that fake Nigerian princes are “successful emailers.” They’re both getting by on volume.
The best liar you know is never the person that you think is the best liar you know.