Late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel recently took a cognitive-style test on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, similar to the one US President Donald Trump has claimed he “aced.” The segment aired amid a highly publicised dispute between Trump and Kimmel, after ABC briefly took Kimmel’s show off the air following alleged pressure from Trump officials over remarks Kimmel made about conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel has since continued to make controversial comments about Trump, including questioning the president’s past associations with the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
What is the Donald Trump cognitive test?
Trump had claimed on Truth Social about having undertaken his “Cognitive Examination, which no other President, or previous Vice President, was willing to take.” He took the exam amid concerns over his mental agility as the age of the presidential candidates had became an important talking point during the 2024 presidential election race, according to Newsweek.
“The White House doctors have just reported that I am in ‘PERFECT HEALTH,’ and that I ‘ACED’ (meaning, was correct on 100% of the questions asked!), for the third straight time, my cognitive examination,” Trump had posted on Truth Social earlier.
What did Kimmel say after taking the exam?
Terming the exam as the ‘Donald Trump cognitive test’, Kimmel said the assessment was “as difficult as the maze on the back of the box of Cap’n Crunch.”
In the episode, the show host was seen being asked to complete multiple tasks, including drawing a cube, linking numbers and letters in ascending order, drawing the time on a clock face, and naming several animals.
Kimmel was also asked to repeat a sequence of words and numbers that the doctor read, and then to list as many words as he could with the letter “f.”
“Fart, fish, flop, fan, funk, frantic, friend, flop, flip, flow, feel, freezing,” Kimmel said, before asking: “What words do you think Trump came up with for the letter ‘f’?”
Why had Trump even taken the test?
Trump was 78 when he was sworn in for his second term in January 2025, making him the oldest person ever to be inaugurated as US President. He had leveraged his cognitive test results as evidence of his fitness for office. The move also came amid repeated scrutiny over his health during his second term. Photos had circulated online last year showing bruising and discolouration on his hands.