Donald Trump's cognitive decline worse than Joe Biden's due to two signs, professor says

Donald Trump and Joe Biden are both being criticized for their competency, or lack thereof

A professor has pointed to two worrying habits from Donald Trump that suggest his cognitive decline is “more apparent” than Joe Biden’s.

Prof Paul Quirk, a politics professor at the University of British Columbia, singled out Trump’s “slurred speech” and “gross, repeated errors” as two pieces of evidence of the billionaire’s “more apparent cognitive decline”.

The ages of the two 2024 presidential front-runners have been brought into sharp focus in recent weeks as Biden, 81, and Trump, 77, head towards a likely rematch in November.

Biden was described as an “elderly man with a poor memory” in a damning special prosecutor’s report earlier this month, following a series of gaffes where he appeared to forget names or get certain details confused.

Meanwhile, Trump too has come under fire for deranged remarks – including inviting Vladimir Putin to attack America’s NATO allies. Trump has been described as suffering from “senior moments” by his Republican rival Nikki Haley.

But Prof Quirk thinks Trump’s traits are actually more worrying than Biden’s. He told Newsweek: “From the standpoint of the campaign, Biden’s age should be less of an issue than Trump’s more apparent cognitive decline – displayed in slurred speech and gross, repeated errors in one campaign rally after another.”

“The legitimate concern about Biden’s age is that by the end of a second term, he would be almost five years older than he is now. There is obvious potential for serious cognitive failure by then. And if it occurred, the real danger is that Biden would fail to recognize it, and refuse to let his vice president take over.”

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