Trump and Chris Wallace Went Head to Head Over a 'Very Hard' Cognitive Test
On Sunday, Fox News aired a lengthy Donald Trump interview in which, among other things, the president dismissed some coronavirus sufferers as having "the sniffles," and sarcastically suggested that military bases named after Confederate generals be rechristened in honor of the Rev. Al Sharpton. But one exchange with host Chris Wallace was particularly bizarre. In it, Trump insisted that Wallace would struggle with a cognitive test, while Wallace pointed out just how easy its questions were.
Related: A timeline of President Trump's comments on the coronavirus
Trump has made bashing Joe Biden for a supposed lack of mental sharpness one of the hallmarks of his re-election campaign. But during their interview, Wallace pointed out that polling has found that Americans are more confident of Biden's competency than they are of Trump's.
"I’ll tell you what, let’s take a test," Trump replied. "Let’s go down, Joe and I will take a test. Let him take the same test that I took.
During an interview with Sean Hannity last week, Trump claimed to have "aced" a cognitive exam he'd taken at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Wallace told the president that he had also taken the same exam, and said that it wasn't all that challenging.
"I took the [cognitive] test too, when I heard you passed it. It's not the hardest test. It shows a picture and it says, 'what's that,' and it's an elephant." -- Chris Wallace pushes back on Trump hyping the cognitive test he passed at Walter Reed pic.twitter.com/8Df8Ez10Ma
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 19, 2020
"They have a picture and it says ‘What’s that?'" said Wallace, "and it’s an elephant."
"Yes, the first few questions are easy, but I’ll bet you couldn’t even answer the last five questions," Trump said. "I’ll bet you couldn’t. They get very hard, the last five questions."
"Well, one of them was count back from one hundred by seven," replied Wallace. "Ninety-three."
That wasn't the only strange moment from the interview. At one point, Wallace fact checked Trump mid-interview, after the president claimed that Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders had released a policy document that advocated for defunding and abolishing the police. Wallace pointed out that the document in question made no mention of defunding or abolishing police forces.
"Oh really? It says abolish," replied the president. "Let's go, get me the charter, please."
In an interview with fellow Fox anchor Bill Hemmer, Wallace revealed what happened next. Trump "found a lot of things that he objected to that Biden has agreed to," said Wallace, "but couldn't find any indication, because there isn't any, that Joe Biden has sought to defund and abolish the police."
You Might Also Like
