OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Texas GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson, who previously served as the White House physician under the Obama and Trump administrations, says he has concerns about President Joe Biden.
During an interview, Jackson said Biden needs to undergo an immediate cognitive exam because he is “not fit to be our president right now.”
“The whole country is seeing his mental cognitive issues on display for over a year now, and there’s really no question in most people’s minds that there’s something going on with him, that he’s not cognitively the same as he used to be and, in my mind, not fit to be our president right now,” Jackson said during an interview.
“Every time he gets up and talks to the American people, it’s not just the American people that are watching him speak, it’s the whole world, and that’s part of what the problem is here,” Jackson also said. “He looks tired, he looks weak, he looks confused, he’s incoherent, and it sends a message of weakness all over the world, and they’re seizing up on that,” he added.
“He’s got 40 years of tape, you can go back and look at this man, so it’s not like we don’t have anything to compare it to,” Jackson said. “You can go back and look, he’s always made gaffes, he’s always made missteps, but never like this. This is something different. These aren’t gaffes…. This is something much more serious.”
Jackson said that Biden’s mental fitness for office, or a lack thereof, “was on full display during the debacle in Afghanistan” and that it could “get more Americans killed” and “ultimately get us in a war because of his lack of leadership.”
Several Republicans have also called on Biden to take a cognitive test because they believe his “mental decline” has “become more apparent.”
Nearly 40 GOP congressional members want Biden to follow the precedent set by his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, as recent polling increasingly shows more Americans are not certain of Biden’s mental fitness for the demanding job of president.
“My colleagues and I are again asking President Biden to immediately undergo a formal cognitive screening exam, such as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA),” Jackson said.
“As a former physician to three Presidents of the United States, I know what it takes mentally and physically to execute the duties of Commander-in-Chief and Head of State,” Jackson added. “Joe Biden has continually proven to me and to the world that something isn’t right. The American people deserve to have absolute confidence in their President’s cognitive ability.”
The Texas Republican said taking “the cognitive test will be an important first step” for Biden to reassure concerned Americans that he is fit for office or “in identifying and properly treating symptoms of impairment that are consistent with a variety of cognitive diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, vascular dementia, Parkinson’s, or multiple sclerosis.”
“This is not a partisan issue. When I discussed taking a cognitive test with President Trump, he was eager to assure the American people and to put the fake news media’s stories to bed,” Jackson wrote. “Why won’t President Biden do the same?
“We can only assume the worst if he doesn’t submit to the same standard that his own party demanded of the last Administration,” he noted further. “The precedent has been set.”
In their letter, the lawmakers said they “believe that, regardless of gender, age, or political party, all Presidents should follow the example set by former President Trump to document and demonstrate sound mental abilities.”
“While you underwent your annual physical exam on November 19, 2021, you either did not face a cognitive test or those results were withheld from the public,” the group of Republicans continued. They added that while the current White House physician cleared Biden physically, the GOP lawmakers wrote that they “are worried about your mental abilities.”