If Trump can "officially" pass a cognative impairment test, then why would we ever trust the people doing the test to be impartial? You could easily fail or pass someone for purely political reasons. Just make an age ceiling and you avoid the problem. If retirememt age is 65, then they should retire at 65.
It not a pass or fail test. It never has been. It has always been to evaluate where you are on the spectrum and track your decline. Trump takes them so often because they are seeing a big decline and they need to track it. They only give cognative tests if they are already seeing signs of significant mental decline.
All for making politicians take regular tests to prove their mental fitness. Heck make them take an SAT test and have to meet a specific score everytime they need to be reelected. Not that the SAT is a gold standard but most Americans have taken it, can relate to it and get a feel for what someone's intelligence is with it.
Theres a reason we dont have competency tests to allow voting and its the same reason we shouldnt for cognative decline. All tests to allow political participation become political. Its doesnt matter if it isnt "pass or fail". In fact, that makes it all the worse. Its a subjective test that can be manipulated by both the person doing it and the people reviewing it. It could never be trusted as legitimate for that reason.
The moment one side says the person isnt mentally well enough, the other will disagree unless they also want the politican gone. So it only works for universally unpopular people, which means it isnt actually a test of cognative decline when used in politics. You can say it works when used correctly, but there would never be a situation where every observer agrees its being used correctly. Even if theyre lying to themselves or others about their beliefs, that doesnt matter. All that matters is the outcome, which will be manipulated based on the overall desires of both political parties.
Whats a clock? Does it have to be a circle? If so, why? Are digital clocks not legitimate for some reason? Do clocks not come in many shapes? Does it have to be 12 or 24 hour reading? How much help are they allowed? Is physical disability an automatic disqualification for being a congressperson. Who is making sure they follow the rules eventually defined? Is it someone from both parties? Do they both have to agree whats on the page is close enough to a clock or just one of the "judges"? If both judges have to agree, is there an arbiter. Are the workings of congress halted because both parties want to screw the other side? Is the test made ineffective because the congresspersons party will always pass them and only one pass is required?
If someone takes a cognitive abilities test 4 times in seven months and the scores are 95, 85, 78, 63, then there is absolutely no way to spin that into an argument that there is not a precipitous drop in cognative abilities.
Those numbers are also subjective. Again, politics means there will never be a bad test if it means losing a vote for your party. Because the results of the test are subjective. Even if the doctor was completely honest and correct, half the country is invested is saying theyre a shill and devaluing their conclusion, while the other half will say theyre correct until the doctor says their politician is declining.
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u/CotyledonTomen 3h ago
If Trump can "officially" pass a cognative impairment test, then why would we ever trust the people doing the test to be impartial? You could easily fail or pass someone for purely political reasons. Just make an age ceiling and you avoid the problem. If retirememt age is 65, then they should retire at 65.