Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Definitely

 I know. There is a convicted felon in the White House whose cognitive abilities have been measured by the ability to identify various sorts of wildlife. "Hey, I know that one! My son shot one of those!"

But maybe, just maybe, we're measuirng the wrong thing. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment is used to detect mild cognitive impairment. 

There is nothing mild about the cognitive impairment found between the ears of the resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. He seems to actually believe that because the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize handed it to him, that it transfers to him. This is a guy who openly campaigned for the prize by threatening anyone who had the temerity to disagree with his whimsical notions about international and domestic affairs with military force.

Sure. He knows what a giraffe is, but peace? Please. 

Instead, maybe we should focus on testing for sociopathy. You know, "a pattern of behavior characterized by a disregard for societal norms, lack of empathy, manipulation, deceit, and impulsivity." Does that sound like anyone we know? A sample question: "I’ve always found it easy to convince people to do favors for me." Or how about, " Other people make so many stupid mistakes compared to me." 

I don't know about you, but I would happily take a person who struggles to identify the animals in the zoo as our nation's leader instead of one who would easily agree with the statement, " Some people just aren’t meant to succeed in life, and that’s not my problem."

Convicted felon. Demented? Maybe. Sociopath? Definitely. 

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