At a Wednesday press conference, President Donald Trump left reporters and critics stunned after a strange, confused exchange over a basic question about foreign student visas. His scattered answers and apparent lack of understanding sparked a wave of concern about his mental fitness.
A reporter asked, “When could the administration resume interviews for foreign student visas?”
Trump responded, “On what?”
The reporter repeated, “For the foreign student visa. Yesterday was the —” before Trump cut her off.
“For the French?” Trump asked, seemingly misunderstanding the word “foreign.”
Other reporters jumped in to clarify: “Foreign. Foreign.”
The original reporter tried again: “All the foreign students.”
Then Trump said, “Oh, for the foreign visas? What are you referring — foreign visas for what? Are you talking about colleges?”
“Ok, you’re off of Israel. Now you’re talking about colleges, right?” he continued, still sounding confused. The reporter confirmed she was asking about student visas.
Trump ended with, “Ok. Well, we’re gonna see,” before shifting into an unrelated attack on Harvard University.
The moment quickly sparked a wave of concern—and mockery—online, as critics pointed to it as a possible sign of deeper cognitive issues.
“The cognitive,” noted Huffington Post White House correspondent S.V. Dáte, hinting at what many were thinking.
Nina Starner, a writer for Looper, was more blunt: *“I’m gonna keep ringing this bell, by which I mean: INCREDIBLY disturbing and f–ked up that the guy in charge of the government never seems to know what the f–k is going on in the government.”
“His mind is gravy,” said marketing expert Noah Mallin.
Canadian political staffer Galen Naidoo Harris asked the question on many minds: “Who is running the United States of America??”
Tulsa Community College professor Brad Duren didn’t hold back either: “This is both embarrassing and horrifying. Biden 2.0.”
The moment also drew attention to what critics see as a double standard in how the media treats cognitive slip-ups—pointing out that CNN’s Jake Tapper helped co-author a book focused on Joe Biden’s mental decline, but has stayed quiet on Trump.
“Hey @jaketapper, do you care to give your cognitive analysis of this?” Showtime boxing analyst Al Bernstein asked sarcastically.
He followed up with: “He has no idea what’s going on. I am sure we will hear from Jake Tapper any minute now.”
Others joined in, questioning why Trump’s apparent confusion isn’t getting the same scrutiny as Biden.
