On May 4, 2026, President Trump veered from a White House small-business summit in the East Room into an extended riff on his mental and physical fitness. He described items from what appeared to be the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a screening tool typically given to aging patients at risk of dementia: 'You know the first question is very easy. They always show the first question, it's: You have a lion, a bear, an alligator, and a—what's another good—a squirrel, OK? Which is the squirrel?' He said, 'I feel the same as I felt 50 years ago, I don't know.' He claimed, 'No president has ever taken one except me. I've taken three of them, and I've aced each one, one in the first administration, two over here,' and said of Joe Biden, 'he might not have gotten that first question right.' He told the room, 'nobody's going to get all 30 questions correct, nobody.'
Earlier at the same event, discussing a tax provision letting businesses deduct the cost of new facilities, he quipped: 'When I get out of office in, let's say, eight or nine years from now, I'll be able to use it. I'll be able to use it myself.' The remark drew laughs. The 22nd Amendment says 'No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice,' and Trump's second term ends in January 2029. The Independent reported that some took the remark as a threat to challenge that limit; People noted that Trump had said in October 2025 that it was 'pretty clear' he could not run again.
Trump turns 80 on June 14, 2026, and won the 2024 election after Biden withdrew amid concerns about his age. A recent poll cited by The New Republic found 59% of Americans doubt Trump has the mental acuity to serve and 55% doubt his physical fitness. During the riff, Trump said his military campaign in Iran had lasted six weeks; the war began with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Feb. 28, more than nine weeks earlier, and the Strait of Hormuz had been closed for more than two months, TNR noted. He also said the Vietnam War lasted 19 years, though TNR noted direct U.S. involvement lasted about eight, and that the Iraq War lasted 10 or 12 years, when TNR put it at about eight. Days earlier, on April 29, the Pentagon's acting comptroller told Congress the war had cost about $25 billion. Trump left without taking questions.
The eight-or-nine-years line follows earlier third-term talk, including his claim that he is 'entitled' to another term (see Trump Says He's 'Entitled' to an Illegal Third Term Because Democrats 'Cheated Like Hell' in 2020).
Correction (October 2, 2026): This entry called Trump's claim that no other president has taken a cognitive test false; no source in the entry establishes that, so the word was removed. It called the six-week Iran remark a factual error; it is now presented with the dates. It said the 22nd Amendment was ratified in 1951 'specifically to prevent indefinite presidencies,' and listed dated quotes from Feb. 25 and Feb. 27 third-term remarks, none of which the entry's sources supported; those details were removed in favor of the amendment's text and a link to the existing third-term entry.