Is Trump losing his mind à la Biden? 

If President Trump’s Truth Social account is anything to go by, the commander in chief spent most of the weekend glued to his cellphone in what can only be described as a whirlwind of apparent senility. 

Trump pledged to slap foreign films with a 100 percent tariff over mysterious “national security” concerns. He vowed to reopen Alcatraz, which has served as a museum for most of the last century. Trump also posted (and later denied posting) an AI-generated image of himself as the next pope, a baffling and insulting decision that led to a rare public rebuke from New York’s conservative Catholic archbishop.

Trump’s increasingly bizarre outbursts and social media declarations are already inviting unflattering comparisons to former President Biden's own apparent cognitive decline while in office. Now, even former Trump confidants are fretting to the press about their ex boss’ mental health.

It’s time to ask a difficult question: Has Trump lost it?

He certainly seems to have lost his memory about that oath of office he swore just five months ago, specifically the part about protecting and defending the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law. In an interview with Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that raised eyebrows across Washington, Trump claimed he didn’t know if following the Constitution was mandatory.

“I don’t know. I’m not, I’m, not a lawyer,” Trump said when Welker asked if he was required to uphold due process rights codified in the Fifth and 14th Amendments. “I don’t know. It seems — it might say that.” It was hardly reassuring stuff, especially given Trump’s previous expertise on due process law during his own multiple criminal prosecutions last year. 

Like Biden, Trump’s inexplicable behavior has some Republicans wondering whether the president is being controlled by others. On Monday, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) unloaded on the shadowy figures she claimed were “in the president’s ear” during an appearance on Steve Bannon’s “War Room.” Greene all but accused Trump’s advisers of hijacking his regime by manipulating the 78-year-old’s brain.

At least Greene is being honest when she says that “they can manipulate the president” with shocking ease. If only other Republicans were so aware of how Trump’s unelected advisers are now steering his administration in a vastly different direction than what the MAGA movement was promised.  

Some of Trump’s newfound MAGA critics see signs of manipulation in his new plan to pay migrants in America illegally a $1,000 bonus if they agree to self-deport. Far from Trump's so-called America First approach, that amounts to little more than a scheme to funnel even more taxpayer money to other countries, much to the chagrin of the few true fiscal conservatives left in Washington.

Trump is also facing fresh criticism about his lack of judgment in choosing senior advisers. That disconnect was on full display over the weekend, when Trump fired national security adviser Mike Waltz for allegedly engaging in unauthorized diplomacy with Israel, only to immediately rehire Waltz for the role of United Nations ambassador.  

Trump’s impulsive decision left Washington wondering about the state of his judgment. If Waltz was too dangerous for Trump to trust as national security adviser, why does Trump think Waltz will be any more trustworthy at the United Nations? And wouldn’t the U.N. be the worst possible place to post a man accused of secretly undermining Trump’s diplomatic goals? 

In any functional administration, harmful decisions like these would be obvious areas of immediate concern. In Trump’s White House, those glaring red flags pass by seemingly unnoticed. Eventually those missed warning signs will result in a real national crisis, and Trump’s weakening grasp on reality will only inflame the situation.  

If the scandal around Biden’s cognitive decline taught us anything, it’s that the American people deserve to know if their president is mentally up for the job. Trump agrees — at least he did in 2024, when he boldly offered to take a public cognitive test alongside Biden. That probably would have saved all of us a whole lot of trouble.  

Just like with Biden, questions about Trump’s mental acuity aren’t going away. Instead, they will only grow louder as his social media decrees become more incoherent and his market-tanking misjudgments eat deeper into Americans’ paychecks. Trump should spare our country years of doubt and speculation by agreeing to sit for a public cognitive exam.  

If Republicans want to avoid repeating the costly mistakes Democrats made in minimizing Biden’s decline, they should get real about what voters are already noticing. If not, they can look to Democrats’ 2024 wipeout for a sign of things to come. 

Max Burns is a veteran Democratic strategist and founder of Third Degree Strategies.