OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
GOP Sen. Roger Marshall said on Sunday that if Republicans won back congressional majorities during the November midterms, it’s possible they may try to force President Joe Biden to submit to an annual cognitive mental fitness test.
In an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, the host segued from a discussion about whether the GOP would use their subpoena power to investigate various allegations against Dr. Anthony Fauci, which the Kansas Republican said was a possibility, into plans for Biden.
“Before you go, you are a medical doctor,” said Bartiromo. “What can you say — and it pains me to bring this up, by the way — but we are all watching President Biden. We’re all watching him, you know, shuffle, mince words. What do you see as a medical doctor? Is there anything you want to say, in terms of perhaps considering a test once a year on mental capacity? What can you tell us as a medical doctor about the mental capacity of our commander in chief? Is this a national security issue?”
“Well, Maria, unfortunately, it is,” Marshall, who specialized in obstetrics/gynecology, said. “And I think we’re all concerned for President Biden’s mental health. I think that if you compare today’s films from some of the films even a year ago, you’ve seen a deterioration in his mental capacity.”
He went on to say that “maybe we need to be proactive” in terms of asking Biden to take “some type of a mental test” annually, perhaps when he takes his yearly physical.
“I think that may be something else that we’ll be looking on, that [Kentucky GOP Sen.] Rand Paul and I’ll be discussing, [Ohio GOP Rep.] Jim Jordan again, seeing if we think that’s something that America deserves,” Marshall said. “I think we’re all very concerned about his health, and it is a national security issue.”
Marshall is not the first Republican lawmaker who is also a doctor to suggest Biden’s mental capacity has significantly declined.
Former White House physician Ronny Jackson, who is now a GOP lawmaker from Texas and who administered a cognitive exam to then-President Donald Trump, has been calling for Biden to take one for more than a year.
In June 2021, he said, to him, Biden looks “very confused, very frail, very weak, and it just does not inspire confidence.”
“He’s always made gaffes here or there, but this is something different. This is repeated times where he can’t remember exactly what’s going on, where he’s at, what he’s doing, he looks confused…he just kind of stares off into space,” he told The Todd Starnes Show. “It’s time to get his physical exam done and that should include cognitive testing.”
He added that Trump performed “extremely well” during his test.
“I’m not diagnosing him with Alzheimer’s or anything, but I’m saying he has some definite cognitive decline that I think is age-related and it’s getting worse as time goes on,” he said. “It’s all very concerning.”
The following month, Jackson reiterated his concerns.
“I think he’s demonstrating every single day that there is something going on,” he told Fox News at the time.
“You don’t need to be a physician to look at this behavior and see there’s something concerning happening,” he said. “He’s just not aging gracefully at this point.”
“You can go back – there are forty years of tape of this man – he’s always made gaffes and stuff but these are different, he’s confused, he’s disoriented,” he said.
Earlier this month, a group of GOP lawmakers led by Jackson sent a letter to Biden imploring him to take a cognitive test and release the results because a growing number of Americans are concerned he’s no longer at the top of his game.
“We can only assume the worst if he doesn’t submit to the same standard that his own party demanded of the last Administration,” the letter said. “The precedent has been set.”
