Trump's niece baffled by excuse for his many brain tests: 'Never heard anything so absurd'

A stated reason for President Donald Trump's repeated cognitive testing is falling apart within his own family.

The testing has been explained by his own health czar as something the president simply enjoys — but Trump's niece, Mary L. Trump, isn't buying it.

The explanation came from Dr. Mehmet Oz, who appeared in the White House briefing room this week to discuss the administration's healthcare agenda. When a reporter pressed on the obvious contradiction — if Trump is as mentally sharp as he claims, why does he keep taking cognitive tests? — Oz offered an unusual defense.

"I think he likes the results," Oz said. "He does really well. He aces the test every single day and I do actually believe that he's curious to make sure everything's going in the right direction. He's a very meticulous person in so many ways that are often underappreciated."

Mary Trump, a clinical psychologist and frequent critic of her uncle, was not impressed.

"I have never heard anything so absurd in my life," she wrote in her weekly Substack newsletter, Trump Trolls Trump.

She noted the inherent contradiction: Trump has repeatedly cited the demands of the Iran war as the reason he can't attend to various obligations — including, she pointed out, his son's wedding. Yet he apparently finds time for repeated trips to Walter Reed for cognitive assessments he has already passed.

"How could he possibly justify going back to Walter Reed repeatedly for tests he's already taken just because he likes the results?" she wrote. "These people are practiced liars, but their lies are getting increasingly unbelievable."

Mary Trump also flagged a separate moment she found telling. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr appeared on Fox this week to warn about the effects of excessive screen time on children, citing research linking it to "reading disabilities, math comprehension problems, and cognitive declines." She noted the irony without belaboring it, given her uncle's well-documented habit of spending hours in front of television.

The newsletter also covered Trump's interview with daughter-in-law Lara Trump on Fox, conducted in front of a giant portrait of Trump himself, during which the president unveiled his latest nickname for Democrats: "Dumocrats." Trump explained the etymology at length, crediting House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as his inspiration.

"I said, he's really dumb. Wait a minute, he's a Dumocrat," Trump said during the interview. "I think it works."

Mary Trump had a one-line assessment of the man who came up with that name: "Says the stupidest person ever to draw a breath."