LIVE: Steve Schmidt 'This Is What It Looks Like When They Don't Think Anyone Will Stop Them'

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]All right, welcome to the Jim Aosta show.

[00:00:08]It's another day that ends in Y and Donald Trump's continued corruption in Washington. Uh it is uh my pleasure to have my friend Steve Schmidt back with us for another edition of O Schmidt.

[00:00:18]It's Friday. Steve, good to see you, man.

[00:00:20]>> Good to see you, Jim.

[00:00:22]and and Steve, uh, you know, I I think that this is, uh, this has been a hell of a week, um, in in in our nation's history. We I I I feel like the the hood is off, maybe it's already been off Donald Trump for for some time now in terms of just revealing how thoroughly corrupt he is. But, uh, this deal that he's cut cut for himself with Todd Blanch, it's not even with Todd Blanch, it's with himself. and you know to it is it is so bad this IRS uh DOJ deal this slush fund that he's created along with this immunity he's given himself I mean it it is it's just so out of bounds and so far from what you know the founders intended from from what anybody has you know any sense of in terms of what our democracy should be that even Republicans in the Senate are bing and I think some Republicans in the House are bing And so this has kind of accidentally become a defining moment it seems almost for for Trump. What do you think? What have you made of this week? Uh in in this sleazy slush fund deal that he set up.

[00:01:31]>> I have I have I have three reactions to it which is the first one is entirely cultural and it's just a function of where I'm from and my age. But having grown up in New Jersey and being 55 years old, that means that I've had Donald Trump embedded culturally in my frontal lobe, Against My Will since age eight. From the Art of the Deal, board games and everything. And for 12 years, I've spoken out against this and have tried to predict whatever abomination is coming next. And, you know, I put my record up of doing that, you know, against anyone. But you still can't imagine, right, what the next abomination is going to be and the detail of it, right?

[00:02:28]>> What the audacity of it going to be. So, at one level, I'm not surprised. Yet, I remain shocked that Donald Trump actually is trying to steal $1.8 billion to hand out as a slush fund to encourage basically political violence with grants to the Proud Boys and the Oathkeepers and pardons and so on and so forth. and to any conspirator who dare um to raise their hand against the Constitution, >> right, is is what it is. And and so it should be opposed. It should be stopped.

[00:03:07]It will be stopped >> because the American people's judgment on all of it is just going to be brutal.

[00:03:14]The >> polling numbers are collapsing.

[00:03:18]I have been on the show here uh every Friday for a long stretch now. And one of the things I've said is he's going to get down to about a 30% approval.

[00:03:29]>> Yep.

[00:03:29]>> And he is at a 30% approval. It's an incredible political achievement. A very dubious one, but he's there. The country is rebelling against it.

[00:03:40]>> Yeah.

[00:03:40]>> All tolerate it.

[00:03:42]this corrupt Republican Congress has abided this, permitted it, and now is going to try to bring it to heal, but it's too late.

[00:03:54]And at the end of the day, my last thing about this is it just raises the question 250th year of the country of our independence, whether we're going to tolerate it or not.

[00:04:05]>> Yeah.

[00:04:06]>> No people can tolerate this.

[00:04:08]>> Yeah. No, no question. and we're heading into, you know, the Memorial Day weekend and it is Memorial Day weekend and um you know, my my grandparents on my mom's side are are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. This is a weekend where we're supposed to remember uh the fallen in this country. You know, those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, served our country. Um and you know, this is not why they served. This is not why they sacrificed. Um, and you know, to me, just to play off of what you were saying a few moments ago, Steve, the Republicans, as my mother used to say, you make your bed, you lie in it. And the Republicans have refused, they have made a decision and refused to reign in Donald Trump this entire time, this entire second term up until this point. And he has delivered to them a [ __ ] sandwich of a deal with this IRS get out of jail free card. I and this is my question to you, Steve. One is it's two parts, if you can play off a little bit of what this means to our country in terms of this being Memorial Day weekend. And two, I I I don't know which part is worse. The slush fund. The slush fund is outrageous. It's disgusting. It you know, I I you know, uh I think it's outrageous that January Sixers and so on could apply to this thing and other thugs and creeps in Donald Trump's orbit. Um, but I don't know what's worse, that or the get out of jail free aspect of this, that he cannot be audited, that he can't be pursued in any kind of way. It's Putinlike. It is I it it's it's banana Republic like it's not it's not at all an American it's an unamerican thing that he has tried to shove down all of our throats this [ __ ] sandwich. Your thoughts?

[00:06:01]Well, let so th this is a weekend where we should remember that about 1 million Americans gave uh a blood sacrifice uh the last full measure of devotion is what Abraham Lincoln called it to the preservation of the union. There's only ever been 700 million of us. About half of us who have ever been are alive right now. So, we have a choice to make.

[00:06:37]One of the things that personally I thought like might induce a seizure when I read about it was Cash Patel snorkeling at the USS Arizona.

[00:06:48]>> Yes. which is a tomb that has 1,800 sailors within it. Just the legacy of desecration is unbelievable. And whether it's been military cemeteries in Europe, whether it's been Arlington itself, whether it's been the USS Arizona, whether it's been on the tarmac at Dover, the affront to decency, to sacrifice, like it never abates, ever, ever, ever. the degradations visited on all that is hallowed, all that is sacred, all that's important in the preservation of the life of the republic. And I think about when you understand the period of history that is coming to an end that Donald Trump has imploded our alliances in Europe, the bonds of free peoples that that go back is that all of the American military cemeteries where American families made the decision to leave their loved ones interned in the soil of the nations where they fell. These small slices of American territory where our war dead are buried.

[00:08:16]All of the graves in those cemeteries and and notably in vividly in the Normandy cemetery.

[00:08:24]>> Yeah. Um those graves all face west back towards home.

[00:08:32]And this this is an army of liberation of young Americans aligned in perfect symmetry facing west. And we should contemplate our responsibility, our obligations in this moment in time. In 1936, Franklin Roosevelt speaking to the Democratic National Convention said, "There's a peculiar rhythm in history that of some generations much is given, of others, much is required, much is expected."

[00:09:10]And of this generation, right? He said, "We have a rendevu with destiny."

[00:09:17]And so there's a generation of Americans born in comfort and privilege and marinated in all of the prerogatives that came from the preeminence of American power that have been laid waste to. And over the next literally generation, it will be a struggle to recover from the damage that Donald Trump has done and arson that he has done to to so much.

[00:09:55]Yeah.

[00:09:56]>> purpose and cause of our politics, >> right, is is very much now defined by what we do from here in the aftermath of this. And that starts with recognizing this Memorial Day weekend. We're in the middle of a live war with Iran that we're losing.

[00:10:13]>> Yeah.

[00:10:14]>> And will soon officially lose. And that's a terrible thing for the security of the world.

[00:10:20]>> There's no question, Steve. and and all of the reports, all of the credible, you know, credible reports from the mainstream uh press folks that I trust indicate now that the Iranians are going to be emboldened by this, that they're rebuilding their military, their military capabilities a lot faster than we perhaps anticipated, the the I shouldn't say we, the Trump administration anticipated.

[00:10:45]And uh I think you're absolutely right.

[00:10:47]Um and and this is a totally destabilizing thing. And I and I think that's why the danger is present that they're going to launch this another yet another war of choice against Cuba.

[00:11:00]And we should talk about that a little bit because with Cuba, it's it's a totally different can of worms. This is not Venezuela. This is not Iran. This is 90 miles off our our coast. And you know, I being half Cuban myself and I've been there three times and done some reporting down there. I mean this is an island that is suffering immensely right now. There's a ma they have a massive um generational you know problem with electricity with just giving basic needs to the people of that country. The the level of hunger in that country is just it's it's astronomical. And my sense of it is is that they're going to perhaps I mean they're going to unleash a humanitarian crisis that we that that the Trump administration I shouldn't say we because people are predicting this that they just did not even think about or plan for and that this could be yet another self-inflicted wound slashdesaster that they're going to just do it all on their own and that the country is going to have to clean up after. Um and you know and and and oh by the way you have the defense secretary Pete Hegsathth who is just completely not up to the job and just comes across as a rank amateur. You know they put out this video of him the other day. You know it's animated as Hathth standing in front of this green screen and it shows all of this. We can show some of this here. You know I don't know what the hell he's doing. Is that supposed to be the Pentagon? doesn't even look like the Pentagon and it's just goofy like Bush league stuff. Um, but your thoughts on on this because you're absolutely right.

[00:12:40]This is relevant this Memorial Day weekend.

[00:12:43]>> Uh, I think Pete Hagath has broken the US military in ways that we really don't fully understand um and can appreciate.

[00:12:54]I think he did it quickly and there's a lot of evidence uh to suggest that this was a highly stressed institution after two failed wars, 20 plus years at war. Um you have some real rot in some of the elite units in the uh military, the the Navy Seals for for example, most notoriously. a lot of culture issues. Uh the veneration, for example, of Eddie Gallagher, a war criminal. Um the ethos of the military, honorbased, and all of that uh has been uh washed in the Trump filth. Uh and a lot of damage, I fear, is has been done.

[00:13:49]What John McCain would say is no damage is like the damage of a lost war >> if he was he was here and and irrefutably we've lost a war >> that's given Iran a territorial claim now on the straits of Hormuz um that is sanctioned by the reality of all of the nations including South Korea and Japan that are lined up to negotiate transit fees with Iran that didn't exist before because before then the supremacy of the US Navy untested uh was unchallenged about the right to navigate through an international war waterway no more. Uh the supreme leader has made clear that the uranium will stay in Iran. Uh Trump uh has backed down. uh he wisely uh will not commit United States to a ground invasion of Iran, but he has along with Netanyahu destabilized uh the entirety of the of the region.

[00:15:01]And one of the things that will be a result of this is the total collapse in uh both word and in letter of the law of these Abraham accords um which were produced by a nitwit uh Jared Kushner that made no mention of the Palestinians uh and the Palestinians can't be excluded from the future of the Middle East. So at some level this drops the final curtain on the consequences, right? What would the what would all what would happen if you let loose the softhanded privileged son of a felon named Jared Kushner is America's de facto chief diplomat in the middle Middle East over a uh two presidential terms over many years and now now you know and and what you see is the contours of truly an epic disaster uh that will have repercussions to play out over decades.

[00:16:05]>> Yeah. No, I mean it seems to me the Abraham Accords was was mainly intended to make Jared Kushner a lot of money.

[00:16:12]>> Commercial was a commercial, >> right? And you're absolutely right. The fact that they did not ever want to deal with the Palestinian issue because that's the hard work. That's what that's what Bill Clinton found out in in the late 90s uh you know when they they tried you know with Yaser Arafat and Ahoud Barack to to craft a a land for peace deal and uh you know that it's hard work to to get to that point and there is no solving this issue without getting to the Palestinian question.

[00:16:42]There's just no question about it. Um, you know, the one thing I want to do though is I want to circle back to the uh to this very corrupt uh fund slush fund deal that Donald Trump made for himself. And because I want to get back to, you know, the Republicans and how they've just completely capitulated to Donald Trump and they've they've feathered their own dirty nest. Uh Tom Emmer was on CNBC uh in the morning and he was asked about this and was stammering all over himself when he was asked about this. But I think this this this typifies the congressional Republicans in in this moment. Let's play this and talk about on the other side because I think this is important.

[00:17:22]>> So we're all clear. You support the settlement that the president made with some people would say he made with himself. Um others would say it was with the AG. um is you're you're supportive of that. You feel like that's uh that was it's totally on the up and up. And then the secondary part of course >> can you hear me?

[00:17:44]>> I I can hear you.

[00:17:45]>> I wish you couldn't.

[00:17:46]>> You should say no.

[00:17:48]>> No, I can hear you. I I again, as Rebecca and I were just talking about, let's see what it is when it comes over to the House. The Senate's got to get their work done, Andrew. And you're asking me to pass judgment on something.

[00:17:59]>> No, the settlement unto itself. the settlement unto itself for putting putting aside. No, I'm not talking about the justice fund. I'm just saying the settlement that was made between um the president and the administration. I mean, that's what's happened here. Do you do you look at that and say that's totally fine? You support how that was done? Well, I wasn't in the room, so I don't know what the details are, but I can tell you this. Donald Trump, no one knows what weaponization of government against him and his family uh better than Donald Trump. He was absolutely uh raped by these people for years. And the American public knows it. Andrew, I suspect that whatever agreement was made, it's fair on both sides of the agreement. But I wasn't >> What a croc of [ __ ] What a complete croc of [ __ ] This is all because Donald Trump's feelings got hurt because he was raked by these guys. Steve used to work for John McCain who was, you know, could not have been more insulted by Donald Trump. Uh Donald Trump has gotten everything he deserves, it seems to me.

[00:19:03]And and he's going to get more, it seems to me, because he he he uh he has put himself in this position. He's put that party in that position. But you can see how much trouble Tom Emmer is h having there answering that question.

[00:19:16]I I wanna Tom Emmer is a version of Pastor Paula speaking in tongues, >> right?

[00:19:26]>> Knocka in Jesus name, right? It's all a fraud.

[00:19:32]>> Yeah.

[00:19:33]>> It's all a scam.

[00:19:35]And one of the most offensive aspects of this entire era is that I have to look at him and pretend to take him seriously.

[00:19:46]that he has a serious title and job and there he is on television and he's allowed to filibuster without being cut off and that's a farce. It's a performance.

[00:20:02]>> Yeah.

[00:20:02]>> Right. A titilation, right? A provocation.

[00:20:08]I'll I'll I'll poke my finger right into your chest and act like you're crazy for objecting to Trump's corruption and slush fund despite a volume of evidence and quotes that make clear you understand exactly every detail of every aspect of everything about all of it.

[00:20:38]and yet you've succumbed because you're a coward and it's just awful to watch.

[00:20:46]But we shouldn't pretend that there's legitimacy in the interview, that there's legitimacy in the show, that there's legitimacy in the man. And what he's done has has created great harm to the United States, to the country. He's faithless.

[00:21:05]He's despicable. is an appalling American leader in history to the extent will recall him. It will recall him terribly.

[00:21:16]>> Awful.

[00:21:17]>> Yeah.

[00:21:18]>> And and a man with no character who when his state was invaded, when his citizens were murdered, stood squarely on the side of one of the great whack jobs that even Trump threw over the rail, Greg Pavino.

[00:21:36]just an awful low pathetic guy.

[00:21:40]>> Yeah, it is. It's it's just pathetic.

[00:21:44]And I um you know, I I I try not to, you know, paint too uh too much with a broad brush. But, you know, the House of Representatives used to be something in this country. You know, uh when it was led by the likes of Tip O'Neal, it used to be something in this country. and it's just been reduced to uh like an overgrown uh college Republican club. You know, they're they're not none of they're just none of them are serious. They're just uh just completely unserious people. Um I before we go, I was thinking that we should uh we should get into uh Memorial Day weekend a little bit. I know we talked about somewhat earlier, but just because of the fact that uh you brought up Normandy, you know, I do want to mention, you know, I've had a couple of trips to Normandy with Obama and Trump.

[00:22:35]And you know, Steve, it you're absolutely right. It is it is an extraordinary place. We saw flyovers there. We saw, you know, it you couple of times I've been there, it just just about brings you to your knees in awe of the sacrifices made there. And you, you know, it was occurring to me, Stephen, while we were talking. I mean, you had a very close relationship with John McCain.

[00:23:01]And you know, just to contrast, you know, just the ridiculous nature of the House Republicans right now with somebody like a John McCain. That's when the Republican party was something in this country. Uh John McCain. And I, you know, I've been to Hanoi, been to the Hanoi Hilton, you know, see the seen the images, John McCain on display there.

[00:23:21]you know, it is it is really stirring what he went through, of course, during his time in in captivity um during the Vietnam War. But I the thing that you you and I have talked about and we don't talk about enough is what our our young people are absorbing in this moment right now. And you almost have to tell them there was a time before Donald Trump when there were honorable men when there were men who who made sacrifices uh who didn't just think about themselves first didn't think about their political party first that put the country first that that used to be something in this country and you you had very close proximity to it. So I'm just curious you know your thoughts on all this heading into this into this Memorial Day weekend. I I think that as Americans, particularly in the 250th anniversary of the country, we have to we have to appreciate that both John McCain and John Adams are not coming back.

[00:24:21]>> But there are key lessons that are part of a continuum that stretch across the whole story of America.

[00:24:33]And there are two sides vividly so in this moment and this moment is a test. And on one side there is the American proposition and on the other side is the MAGA proposition and they're antithetical to one another and they're not compatible with one another and they never ever will be. and the submission to a man who disdains what the country is about.

[00:25:10]From his false claims of a stolen election to the constancy of his threats of retribution and revenge and violence, all of it, the submission to it, um is appalling and despicable and cowardly and it will be rung up high uh by the high court of history. There there are three profound warnings that have been issued over the course of the history of the country by its leaders and interestingly they come from military men who held the nation's highest office. Two of them were from George Washington.

[00:26:01]Um in his farewell he said beware of foreign entanglements and he said beware about the danger of faction political parties. And the danger was that there could be some force some entity that would overpower patriotism, a love of country, right?

[00:26:25]The love of the faction, the love of a party.

[00:26:28]I I served as a staffer in the House of Representatives where overwhelmingly in the era of chairman John Dingle, the loyalty of those people was even before their party to the institution, to the House and to the concept of it.

[00:26:50]And all of that has been obliterated as the house because of the fidelity to the faction has become a polip bureau and has gutted its own power as a co-equal branch of of government.

[00:27:10]the the other warning that that matters a great deal is the one that was issued by Eisenhower.

[00:27:20]And and I'd encourage everybody um go on YouTube and watch the Kronhite interview of Dwight Eisenhower in 1964, 20 years on from from D-Day when he returns as a former president to those to those to those beaches and tells tells the story of the day. What he warned about was a military industrial complex. Right.

[00:27:49]>> And you see that with Peter Teal and the tech executives and the unaccountability of the AI Palunteer, all of it. And so we the people like this Memorial Day weekend, we have to decide.

[00:28:12]We have to decide that guy that you just played that that Tom Emmer, you know, I can't do anything about him in Minnesota, right? But but man, or I don't know if his voters are fools or what, but we as the country are going to repudiate this. They they as a whole will be in the minority and we have to demand not that The Democrats now get their license for lawlessness and stealing, but we have to we have to demand a restoration of the rule of law in the republic, >> right? That's what this is about. And and it's big stuff on on this Memorial Day. And there's a lot of faithlessness to the highest concepts of virtue and valor that are the lifeblood of any nation. What John McCain would tell you is that the the country needs the virtues, valor, patriotism, love to sustain itself >> like like a fish needs water, >> like a human being needs oxygen.

[00:29:29]>> Yeah. And and and that's what we should think about this Memorial Day in a season of vast desecrations to a lot of things that we supposedly value and hold dear.

[00:29:42]>> No question about it. Very well said, Steve. As always, you you hit the nail right on the head and uh remind us that uh that you know, I think I think of that expression that John McCain would use from time to time that you have to believe in a cause bigger than oneself.

[00:30:00]And uh I I'd love to see a candidate get out there, some candidates get get out there and talk about that. Not just engage in talnapping with Donald Trump and and that sort of thing, but get back to that notion of that there is a cause bigger than ourselves here. And it's to continue what was passed on to us. That is that is always the cause, it seems to me. And um Steve, you always remind us of that. Thank you very much.

[00:30:25]>> Good to be with you, Jim.

[00:30:27]>> Good to be with you, >> Jim. And Jim, I just want to say can I can I just say >> please >> I support if if we are going to have a revenge fund.

[00:30:35]>> Yeah.

[00:30:36]>> I support your claim 100%.

[00:30:39]>> And and I've even come up with a number that you deserve, I think. Right. I think that number's that number is at least $137 million.

[00:30:49]>> And um >> I like that number. It's a good number.

[00:30:52]>> Supported 100%.

[00:30:54]>> Yeah. And in case folks missed it, I I wrote a little Substack, put it out there, and I guess it uh made some waves that yes, I I would like to apply for the anti-weaponization fund. The government was weaponized against me.

[00:31:07]It's been weaponized against all of us >> controvertably.

[00:31:12]>> It's been weaponized against all of us in various different ways. Um but there it is right there. Yeah. I mean, they did take away my press pass. They did intend to destroy my career. There's no question about it. They really were so pissed at me during that first term and they're still pissed. They're still pissed at us, Steve. It's funny. We're, you know, you and I, we we do this now.

[00:31:31]>> You know, we're not on cable news all the time and that sort of thing. And they still can't get it out of their heads. It's it's I guess it's an honor to live in those in left of their heads.

[00:31:43]>> For sure. like your grandkids will talk about it like you know like you know there's going to be a lot of people like who's >> oh your grandmother was Megan Kelly >> not so good >> not so good >> yeah Steve uh I think your grandkids uh and extended family will be saying the same of you um in a in a very very good way in a very honorable way. Uh Steve, thanks a lot. Really appreciate it.

[00:32:09]>> Thank you Jim.

[00:32:10]>> Thanks for reminding us of the importance of this weekend. Always good to talk to you. Thanks so much.

[00:32:14]>> And you know, it is I I guess I wasn't planning on talking about this again. I don't know what the correct dollar figure is. Uh honestly, I think the whole thing is a farce. This anti-weaponization fund. It's it's a farce in that Donald Trump himself uh is the king of government weaponization.

[00:32:33]And uh so I just, you know, you know, somebody told me, you know, Jim, you should apply for this thing. And I thought, you know what? I should apply for that thing. That sounds pretty damn good. Um, and of course, you know, if it all comes to pass, which which it never will, they that's that's what part of the reason why I wrote the piece is to highlight what a joke it is that they they will never dole out money to victims of Donald Trump's government weaponization. James Comey is not getting a check from Donald Trump.

[00:33:02]Leticia James is not getting a check from Donald Trump. People like that are not getting a check from Donald Trump.

[00:33:07]it this this whole thing uh is a big joke. And and speaking of that, um a special holiday treat heading into the holiday weekend. You know, one of the things that we talk about quite often on the show, in part because they won't talk about it in the corporate media is that Donald Trump is becoming more out uh out to lunch every single day. Um he has he has problems staying awake in cabinet meetings, in the Oval Office. He um routinely uh just says things that that do not make any sense. I've been harping all week all week long about how he wants to have a drone port on top of the White House. I mean, that doesn't make any sense. Of course, he wants to build this ballroom, which doesn't make any sense. The arch painting the bottom of the reflecting pool. I mean, it's all it's all, you know, we we talk about the monuments around Washington DC. These are all monuments to Donald Trump losing his marbles. Having said all of that, he does like to brag from time to time that he uh takes all these cognitive tests and and he he claims he aces them. Um and you know, in part this is a little bit of a serious subject because there are a lot of you know, a lot of families who go through this who deal with aging relatives and so on and uh and and there always comes a moment almost always comes a moment in a family where they have to deal with a an aging relative and and cognitive decline and so on. But because Donald Trump talks about this so much and he he seems to confuse it with an IQ test, um I think there's been a lot of confusion in the public's mind as to what the hell is going on with these cognitive tests. So I thought because you know this is independent media and a bit of a journalism experiment from time to time and we like to do things a little differently here on this show. I thought why don't how about I go out there and take a cognitive test. So, yes, I took the test and uh I I got together with Dr. Rob Davidson of Paging America. He administered the test um and was very kind to do this and I h I have my results right here. I will just tell you right now that I I did pass the test. If I had not passed the test, we would have a major problem because this is not an IQ test. This is about cognitive decline. And so, of course, somebody like myself, I'm in my 50s. I I'm doing okay. I'm pretty healthy. I exercise. I I'm of sound mind. Of course, you know, spoiler alert, I passed the test. But we wanted to see what it was like to do it. And uh so we sat down in a nearby studio and had Dr. Rob Davidson administer to me the Mocha, as it's called, cognitive test. And well, let's just let's take a look.

[00:35:50]>> Everybody, there's been a lot of conversation about Donald Trump and his cognitive test. He brings it up all the time. Just the other day, he was talking about how he had aced another cognitive test. Uh he seems to be confusing it with the IQ test. I'm not sure what that's all about. Uh but he really likes to talk about this cognitive test. And it's it's relevant right now because The Atlantic just came out with a story about the fact that Trump is turning 80 um a little later this year. As a matter of fact, next month. And so all of this is now a big part of the conversation here in Washington. Trump's cognitive health. Let's talk about this. I've got Dr. Rob Davidson with me. Uh he is the host of Paging America and he is also with the committee to protect >> healthare >> healthcare in America. And uh Dr. Rob, great to see you as always. And you're here for a special reason. You are going to help me take one of these cognitive tests. The cognitive test that we think Donald Trump right >> claims he's been taking.

[00:36:48]>> Yeah. Well, I'm not going to help you.

[00:36:50]My job here is to administer the test.

[00:36:52]That's good.

[00:36:52]>> Yeah. Yeah. And I think at least once, I believe last year, they did report this specific test. It's called the Montreal um uh cognitive assessment. Okay. So, it's it's Mocha is how people refer to it. It's probably the most common cognitive test that physicians uh or other providers administer to patients when there's a concern about >> their cognition. You know, there's a concern they may be slipping. So, yeah, we're going to do this and and and see how you do and see how you feel about the test.

[00:37:18]>> Yeah. And and there are concerns that Trump is slipping. I mean, let's just be honest about this. And I guess he feels the need before we get started, Dr. Rob, he feels the need to go out there and say he keeps passing these cognitive tests, but the fact that he keeps taking them is kind of worrisome.

[00:37:34]>> I mean, yeah, these are not standard screening tests that you just give to every person that walks in the door.

[00:37:38]It's not like a PSA for your prostate, right? It's not like checking your hearing routinely. These are intended to be used when either a provider or maybe a family member or even an individual says, "Boy, I'm I'm a little concerned."

[00:37:50]And and it really tests for mild cognitive impairment. This is not a dementia test. This is not, you know, this is not severe cognitive impairment.

[00:37:58]This is like, hey, slipping a little bit, maybe concern, and then if it's if it's abnormal, you maybe go on and get more testing, see more specialists. But and you usually don't administer them over and over, just routinely. It's it's if you're concerned about something. And I just want to make some disclaimers.

[00:38:13]I've had no chemical enhancements. I've had no Diet Coke since about 1:00 this afternoon. You were with me this afternoon. I've just been drinking water. No Red Bulls, no other energy drinks, nothing like that. Um I don't have a a body man who works for me who's going to give me the answers if that's what's going on. I don't know. And >> no earpieces.

[00:38:32]>> No earpieces. There are no earpieces right here. But I am going to take this test. And of course, we should mention at the beginning there there should be no wagering, no betting on poly market or any of these.

[00:38:42]>> We don't have an overunder and this is purely for information purposes, right?

[00:38:46]We're not trying to diagnose anything. I think that's really important. I think if if people are concerned like they shouldn't be using this as their as their the way that they administered this to their family members, like go see your provider, go see your physician if you have one and uh and and you know, get checked out. We're doing this uh to to drive home a point that this is not something that a president should be bragging about that he aces these tests and also just to see what it's like. I mean I I've been wondering what what is this? What is it like? How does it work?

[00:39:13]So >> I guess we should should we do it?

[00:39:15]>> I think let's go ahead and do it. Okay.

[00:39:17]>> And I can I can hold up. It's called the Mocha. This is version 8.1. I believe there's three of them. I mean people can search this out online. You can find them everywhere. Uh particularly nowadays. The first part is going to be you doing a few things and and I can explain what the task is in this first part here. Yes, >> there's a pattern. They show what the with the arrow is a pattern and you just have to kind of figure out what is that pattern and then follow the pattern.

[00:39:41]>> Very good. So I see one a and then it goes to two and so then I take it from there.

[00:39:46]>> You take it from there whatever you think is next and then finish it out.

[00:39:49]>> So should I start this now and and I'll I'll move to the next thing and you'll tell me what the next thing is. I guess >> I will I'll explain the next one >> and we'll do that. All right. So, it looks like uh I think I can solve this.

[00:39:59]Um, can I buy Val? No, I'm just kidding.

[00:40:02]All right. All right. Dad joke alert.

[00:40:03]All right.

[00:40:03]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:40:04]>> All right. Let's see here. I think I'm going to go here next to B.

[00:40:09]And then I think I'm going to go down here to three.

[00:40:13]And I'm going to go here to C.

[00:40:16]And then I'm going to go here to four.

[00:40:18]And then here to D.

[00:40:21]And then here to five. And here to E.

[00:40:24]>> All right. We're not going to give you a score as you go here. So, I'm just going to let you >> do I go back to the beginning or anything like that.

[00:40:29]>> You are done with the task.

[00:40:30]>> All right.

[00:40:31]>> So, the second one that you have to do on your own is there's a cube here and you just have to >> draw that cube. Copy the cube right below.

[00:40:38]>> Copy the cube. All right. I used to do some doodling back in the days. So, >> it's always hard for me.

[00:40:44]>> Yeah. But I remember I you know because I didn't really pay attention in class and so I would do this a lot of your algebra test.

[00:40:51]>> I think that looks that looks pretty good there. I think that looks all right. In my personal opinion, it could have been neater, but >> Well, you're not an artist. It's just for the, you know, kind of the >> There's no artistic score here. Okay.

[00:41:01]Just the technical score.

[00:41:02]>> If I was the judge of art, I think we'd be in trouble.

[00:41:04]>> No East German judges are standing by or anything like that. It's a data joke.

[00:41:08]I'm sorry.

[00:41:08]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, next uh is that you have to draw a clock and just you can look at it up here, but listen closely. Draw a clock and then have it say show it at 10 11.

[00:41:19]>> 10 11. All right. And uh let's see here.

[00:41:23]>> And you can draw it as complete as >> draw a circle like that. So noon, both hands would be like this. That would be one. So if it's 10 11 >> and maybe do do the whole clock before you do the time.

[00:41:35]>> Oh, should I do that? Maybe I'll do that. All right, let's do that.

[00:41:38]>> I think it makes it easier. And I think it's definitely with >> See, I was going to do it.

[00:41:43]>> Don't do a free form. Don't handicap yourself.

[00:41:45]>> All right.

[00:41:46]>> And then 10 11.

[00:41:48]>> 10 11. I'll do the little short hand here and I'll do the long hand. That's technically a long hand. I just want everybody to know. All right.

[00:41:55]>> That's a long hand. That's a short hand.

[00:41:57]I don't want any >> anybody in the peanut gallery judging me here on my So, you said 10 11. All right. 10 11.

[00:42:03]>> Am I allowed to if I if I do something too fast? Can I look at it very quickly before handing it back to you to make sure I did it right?

[00:42:09]>> Yeah, for sure.

[00:42:09]>> I think I did that one. Okay. All right.

[00:42:11]Very good.

[00:42:11]>> Now, this is the last part where you're going to have access to the test and I'm going to hide it from you and I'm going to be asking you questions. Okay.

[00:42:17]>> Um, so this is just you have to name these three animals that you see here.

[00:42:22]>> Name these three animals.

[00:42:23]>> Name the animals >> and that's it.

[00:42:24]>> That's it. Nothing.

[00:42:25]>> I don't have to draw the animal.

[00:42:27]>> You don't have to tell me what the sound they make against.

[00:42:29]>> All right. This is interesting. I think this is pretty clear what these animals are.

[00:42:34]>> I believe this is a lion.

[00:42:36]>> Okay.

[00:42:37]>> I believe that is a rhinoceros.

[00:42:39]>> Okay.

[00:42:39]>> And I think that's a squirrel. No, I'm kidding. I think that's a camel. Are jokes allowed?

[00:42:43]>> All right. Jokes are allowed. Yes. They don't affect the scoring. All right.

[00:42:46]Very good.

[00:42:47]>> Um, and then now we're >> Trump said something about a squirrel the other day. So he said something about which is the squirrel which I didn't understand that part.

[00:42:52]>> I don't know if some of them do have a squirrel. They have different animals on different versions. I don't know.

[00:42:57]>> Okay. So maybe they vary a little bit >> that you could identify a squirrel.

[00:43:01]>> I think I can. There's a lot of New Yorker. A lot of squirrels in New York.

[00:43:04]>> A lot of squirrels in New York. A lot of squirrely things here in DC.

[00:43:06]>> Oh my gosh. I know. I know. I'm here visiting and uh talk about the swamp.

[00:43:10]It's a It's 100° today. That's right.

[00:43:12]Feels very swampy.

[00:43:13]>> Very warm. Very warm. The squirrels are in hiding. So, this next part, I'm gonna name three objects.

[00:43:20]>> Okay?

[00:43:21]>> And then you have to just repeat those objects after me. You have to do it once.

[00:43:24]>> Name the three objects.

[00:43:25]>> I'm just going to give you three objects, their names, and you're going to have to repeat them.

[00:43:30]>> Mhm.

[00:43:31]>> Repeat them again. And this is probably the hardest part. In about five minutes, >> I'm going to ask you those three objects again.

[00:43:38]>> Oh, interesting. Okay.

[00:43:39]>> Yeah. I will say my 19-year-old daughter lost a point for this one. That's okay.

[00:43:43]your your daughter >> a point because you know it's it's a few minutes later you're a little nervous and you know one of them you might get a little bit that's okay that's okay >> passing this thing is is a 26 out of 30 so no big deal all right I got a little nervous there >> look at my transcript I think that'd be pretty good >> um so yeah three uh five objects you're going to repeat them and then you're going to repeat them again >> okay >> so face velvet church daisy red >> face velvet Church daisy red.

[00:44:14]>> Okay.

[00:44:16]>> Base velvet daisy church red.

[00:44:19]>> Okay. Yeah. In no order. This is hard.

[00:44:20]Knowing the objects. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:44:22]Yeah. Yeah.

[00:44:22]>> Okay.

[00:44:23]>> Okay.

[00:44:24]>> Wow.

[00:44:24]>> And now I need I'm going to read off a list. Now, don't be nervous. I'm going to read off a list of digits.

[00:44:29]>> Okay.

[00:44:29]>> And the first list of digits, you just have to repeat them in the forward order, the order that I say them.

[00:44:34]>> Okay.

[00:44:35]>> 2 1 854.

[00:44:39]One, two, four, five, eight.

[00:44:43]>> So, repeat them in the order that I say them.

[00:44:45]>> Oh. Oh, sorry. Do it in the order that you say, not not numerically as they are.

[00:44:49]>> Oh, yeah. Sorry. Sorry. No, that's fine.

[00:44:51]So, in the order I say them.

[00:44:52]>> Order that you say them. All right.

[00:44:53]>> That was actually pretty good. You might get an extra point for that.

[00:44:55]>> Okay. Very good.

[00:44:56]>> I wouldn't have done that. I wouldn't have thought of that.

[00:44:58]>> I was making sure. I'm keeping you on your toes here.

[00:45:00]>> All right. So, repeat them in the forward order. I'll say them.

[00:45:02]>> Yeah.

[00:45:03]>> 21854.

[00:45:05]>> 21854.

[00:45:06]>> Okay. Now, I'm going to say three digits, and you just have to repeat them back to me backwards from the order that I give them to you.

[00:45:13]>> Repeat them backwards. Yeah.

[00:45:14]>> Got it.

[00:45:15]>> 742.

[00:45:17]>> 247.

[00:45:18]>> All right. Good. Okay. This one, you got to get your hand up on the table.

[00:45:21]>> Okay. Hands on the table.

[00:45:22]>> I'm going to read a list of letters. I think there's 20 or so here. And every time you hear the letter A, you have to tap.

[00:45:29]>> Just tap the table every time you hear the letter A.

[00:45:31]>> When I hear the letter A, I tap the table.

[00:45:33]>> And then don't tap it on any other letter.

[00:45:35]>> All right. F B A C M N A A J K L B A F A K D E A A J A M O F A A B All right. Good.

[00:46:06]Now, this one is math. Now, I know he talked about really complex math problems. This is this is the math here on the thing.

[00:46:12]>> Interesting.

[00:46:12]>> Start.

[00:46:13]>> The guys in who are are our producers and and people who are with us are kind of they're making faces.

[00:46:18]>> They are.

[00:46:19]>> So, I'm a little nervous now that I've screwed something up.

[00:46:21]>> Yeah, you're good.

[00:46:22]>> Is it all right? Are we good?

[00:46:24]>> I think we're doing okay so far. I can't give you scores, but you're doing okay so far.

[00:46:28]>> All right. You're going to start at 100.

[00:46:29]>> And they're not they're not coaching me in any way. You would you would ver as a medical professional you would verify that >> and I work with one of them a lot. I don't think it'd be a lot of help.

[00:46:37]>> Okay.

[00:46:38]>> Um >> Oh, sorry. Laughter from the >> laughter's okay.

[00:46:41]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:46:42]>> Um All right. So, you're going to start at 100 and it's called subtract by serial seven. So, just subtract by seven >> from 100.

[00:46:49]>> From 100 and keep just keep going >> and keep going. All right. Uh 100.

[00:46:53]>> Yep. 93 86 79 72 65 58 51 44 >> You could have stopped.

[00:47:06]>> 37. Oh, okay. Got it. Okay.

[00:47:07]>> I just want to see how far you go.

[00:47:09]>> Okay.

[00:47:09]>> Should have got the negative. All right.

[00:47:11]So, this one is testing language.

[00:47:13]>> Okay.

[00:47:14]>> And you just have to repeat what I say.

[00:47:16]>> Got it.

[00:47:16]>> I'm going to take a drink because I want to get this.

[00:47:18]>> Let's do this. All right. Good. I'll take a drink, too.

[00:47:21]>> Work up a sweat doing this.

[00:47:22]>> Under the hot lights. under the hot lights. There's a lot of pressure here.

[00:47:25]>> I know. For me, too.

[00:47:27]>> All right.

[00:47:27]>> There's a lot of pressure on you as well.

[00:47:28]>> We do. We want to make this authentic, and it is. Um, so just repeat after me.

[00:47:32]Nothing more than that.

[00:47:34]>> I only know that John is the one to help today.

[00:47:38]>> I only know that John is the one to help today.

[00:47:41]>> Okay, this next one's a little longer.

[00:47:43]The cat always hid under the couch when dogs were in the room.

[00:47:47]>> The cat always hid under the couch when dogs were in the room. Okay, I'm going to mark those so I remember those are both good. Okay, and then this is testing abstraction. And you're just going to tell me I'm going to tell you two things and tell me how they're similar.

[00:48:00]>> Train, bicycle, >> modes of transportation.

[00:48:03]>> Good. And then watch ruler >> something you measure with.

[00:48:09]>> Okay.

[00:48:10]>> Okay. Now, here is the delayed recall.

[00:48:12]Okay.

[00:48:13]>> These are those five objects.

[00:48:14]>> Oh, boy. Wow.

[00:48:16]>> I know. And you have to think about >> Wow.

[00:48:18]So go ahead and and do the five objects.

[00:48:21]>> Do them as best you can in no particular >> face velvet red church.

[00:48:29]Face red velvet church.

[00:48:37]Face red velvet church.

[00:48:39]Oo face red velvet church.

[00:48:42]>> That's where my 19-year-old got hung up.

[00:48:44]>> This is where she got hung up. case red velvet church.

[00:48:50]This is what I get for goofing around too much.

[00:48:52]>> That's okay.

[00:48:53]>> Tree. No, not tree.

[00:48:54]>> Okay, so you're close. So that's fine.

[00:48:56]I'm going to give you a category Q.

[00:48:58]You're allowed this. Okay.

[00:48:59]>> Okay.

[00:48:59]>> Type flower.

[00:49:02]>> Daisy.

[00:49:02]>> There you go.

[00:49:03]>> Daisy.

[00:49:03]>> Okay.

[00:49:04]>> That's right.

[00:49:05]>> Good. Good. Good. Good.

[00:49:06]>> Dog on it.

[00:49:06]>> This one, >> that's a specific one. That was that tripped me up a little bit. All right.

[00:49:10]So maybe >> maybe I am in decline.

[00:49:13]>> You're not in decline.

[00:49:13]>> Not in decline.

[00:49:14]>> I don't think so yet. Now we got still got six more points here. If you miss all of these, then we'll have to >> Oh, okay. Now we're in trouble. All right.

[00:49:20]>> Have to talk to your family.

[00:49:21]>> I probably will have to go to the emergency room is what will have to happen.

[00:49:23]>> Now, this one to me is hard because I don't often know this. Um, >> yeah.

[00:49:27]>> What is the date?

[00:49:29]>> You can say the month and the date.

[00:49:31]>> Today's date is the 19th of May.

[00:49:33]>> Okay. How about the year?

[00:49:35]>> It is 2026.

[00:49:36]>> And the day of the week?

[00:49:38]>> It is Tuesday.

[00:49:39]>> And what is this place we're in?

[00:49:40]>> We're in a studio.

[00:49:41]>> Very good. And then what city are we in?

[00:49:43]We're in Washington DC.

[00:49:45]>> Okay. So, I'm gonna go ahead and score this.

[00:49:47]>> All right.

[00:49:49]>> Wow. Wait, are we done?

[00:49:50]>> We're done. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah, you're done.

[00:49:51]>> Oh my goodness.

[00:49:53]>> That's it.

[00:49:53]>> Wow.

[00:49:54]>> And it was that was >> while I'm doing this. And while I'm doing this, like how >> Actually, no, it was not. It was very easy.

[00:50:01]>> It was right. And like the one thing with a little hiccup. No, no, but it should be right. This is testing my cognitive impairment.

[00:50:07]>> Yeah.

[00:50:08]>> At 26 or less. And if you got less than 12 years of education, we talked before, I know you said, you know, you went to college. Um, >> then, uh, you don't get a point. Less than 12 years of education, you get an extra point because we were saying, okay, a lot of education.

[00:50:19]>> What if I partied mostly through college? Does that count? I don't think you need the point. Give me a point there. All right.

[00:50:23]>> I think you're good. All right. So, and this is the one here we got.

[00:50:30]Yeah. So, technically, as we're rounding up, I mean, they don't do decimals. So, >> yeah.

[00:50:35]>> As it goes. So, the only thing that was not like 100 100% was the Daisy, right?

[00:50:41]The five minute recall forget the Daisy.

[00:50:43]>> That's okay. You'll never forget it in your life. I had a dog named Daisy, so I'd never lose it. Um, face velvet church Daisy red. Again, no order in particular. And then you get an option category Q like, hey, it's a flower. And then multiple choice Q. I'll give you like, hey, Daisy, table, you know, whatever. And then you you'd get it. But you got it on the one. And so it's times two.

[00:51:01]>> Yeah.

[00:51:01]>> For that. Okay. So three times this I'm gonna get this.

[00:51:08]So it's 14 out of 15. We divide it out and we're still rounding up. We don't do decimal points.

[00:51:13]>> Your score is a 30. You're given a 30 out of 30.

[00:51:16]>> Your score is a 30.

[00:51:17]>> I still got Unbelievable. Amazing.

[00:51:20]>> Congrats.

[00:51:20]>> All right. Patience.

[00:51:23]>> You don't Do you normally give Congratulations somebody a point? Oh, you just don't let me.

[00:51:27]>> No, you give them >> I just want to show right here. This is official. I I aced it. I totally aced it. Can I say that? Totally aced this test.

[00:51:37]>> And uh it was fake news when you said Daisy. That was fake news. All right.

[00:51:40]No, I'm just kidding. This is it right here. And I must say that was and I and and I shouldn't joke too much because there are people who have to take this and families go through all this stuff and whatnot. But I will say that it is totally nuts that he >> claims that this is some sort of measurement of his IQ because this is not an IQ.

[00:51:58]>> Let's make it clear. It's not an IQ test. This is not an IQ. a measurement of cognitive decline, right? Nothing to do with intelligence. There are like road scholars, right? Geniuses who suffer from dementia, >> right?

[00:52:09]>> You know, I had I had a patient once, her husband came in and said, "This woman in front of you who was a patient with dementia was a a first chair violinist with the Boston Symphony and like this clearly accomplished person.

[00:52:20]She had this horrible disease."

[00:52:21]>> Amazing.

[00:52:22]>> And was, you know, brilliant at a point in her life and then lost it. So, yeah, this has nothing to do with intelligence. It's cognition. You're cognitively intact. You can let your family know. You know, >> I'm good >> for now. Yeah. Both the same age. And >> I don't feel this good every day, so maybe I should take it again just to double check.

[00:52:38]>> I think you don't need to take it unless someone who's close to you thinks that you should.

[00:52:42]>> You don't think I should ace it three times or anything like that? Okay.

[00:52:45]>> Um, no. But I think this is instructive and I'm glad that we did this. I do think that, you know, when he goes out there and brags that he can find which one is the squirrel, >> I think that that's not good.

[00:52:58]>> It seems to me. I mean, do when you listen to him, do you think there's something what's going on here? Like, do you ever have that thought?

[00:53:05]>> Yeah, of course. I mean, and I I I work with other physicians and nurses and and we talk about this, right? You talk about what's going on in the world and like I I won't make a diagnosis. We don't It's not ethical to try to diagnose somebody. Um, and I don't know if the president has a condition, but something just seems not right. Yeah.

[00:53:22]Um, again to proverate on this test and to tout its difficulty when anyone can just go I mean anyone can go find this.

[00:53:31]You Google in M OCA and you're going to get a hundred images, you know, >> right?

[00:53:35]>> And you you were asking me what city I'm in. Yeah.

[00:53:38]>> You're asking me what day of the week it is. You're asking me what a lion is. You know, it's >> this is very basic stuff.

[00:53:45]>> It is. And it's telling you, are you aware of your surroundings? Right. Do you have a basic grasp? Now the clock one may be dated someday and there may be a time when you know Gen Z and millennials to draw a clock like you you have a watch I I have a digital one you know but clocks but you know but yeah I mean it's just basic stuff you should be able to know what a line a rhinoceros a camel is even if you don't see them every day and so um yeah this this this shouldn't be hard um I'm glad that they're administering a cognitive test to the president I don't know if the results are true I don't know that we can ever know what is true >> but the fact that they keep doing it >> you think that's your concern.

[00:54:19]>> I think it's just not typical, right? It isn't typical. It isn't what you would just generally do for any individual when you didn't have a concern. And so, you know, the White House physicians, >> it's hard to say. I mean, he takes a full dose aspirin when he has been told by many physicians and we have you've everyone's reported on it. That is not what is recommended. Yeah.

[00:54:38]>> So, I I don't know if he's just asking for the test so he can go and brag about the results. It it's hard to say for sure, but it isn't typical for sure.

[00:54:46]>> Yeah. And it's strange, as we said, that he fixates on it so much. Uh, since we have you here, I mean, we should talk about a couple of healthc care issues because you're so uh, good on this subject. Uh, he just had this event with RFK Jr. where he's talking about Trump RX and he's presenting it as this, you know, big cure for the high cost of medicine in this country. Is it?

[00:55:08]>> Yeah. Well, I mean, this a lot of this probably stem from Elizabeth Warren questioning RFK Jr. on, you know, in his Senate uh hearings about the cost of a drug uh uh pantopresol and how it was 12 bucks at at Costco and it was, you know, hundreds of dollars. And that's where we got into all the percents and 600% and all that.

[00:55:25]>> Um and and and they teamed up with Mark Cuban, right, who has an online pharmacy that delivers discounted uh uh generic drugs. I mean, I far as I can tell, I've went on I've gone on the site like, yes, people can get their drugs cheaply, but you know, Trump RX basically gets agreements with manufacturers to get people to buy branded drugs, right?

[00:55:44]Brand name drugs that cost an astronomical amount of money.

[00:55:47]>> And now what they've done is said, "Okay, well, we're going to link you to Mark Cuban's site." So, I mean, it's essentially just a a a site trafficing uh platform that can route people into this place they could have gone all along. So again, it's it feels like and and we've talked about on paging America, the the president's pollster, Republican poster, Tony Frizzio, told them, "You guys are getting killed on healthcare. You got to talk about you got to do something about healthcare."

[00:56:12]They took a trillion dollars out of Medicaid, millions of people off of the ACA because they let the tax credits expire. And so what they've decided is we're going to make this website. We're going to tell people it's something that in fact isn't. We're going to tell them it's going to fix those costs. And and it's it's not the fix, right? Wholesale reform. I know in my state of Michigan, we're getting money out of politics.

[00:56:31]We're banning, you know, companies that that have big contracts with the state from giving to politicians, right? The the money, the power, that's what's unfortunately driving the astronomical healthcare cost, including drug costs.

[00:56:42]And Trump RX is not the fix.

[00:56:44]>> Yeah. No. And it and it looks that way.

[00:56:46]It looks more marketing, which is than, you know, than substance, which is a very, very much a Trump thing.

[00:56:52]>> Um, the other thing that we should talk about is I mean, you mentioned RFK Jr.

[00:56:56]We're living in a world right now where people are freaked out about Ebola.

[00:57:00]Yeah.

[00:57:00]>> Uh they're freaked out about this Hunter virus.

[00:57:03]>> And the guy in charge of HHS is RFK Jr.

[00:57:06]>> who gets into plunge pools with uh Kid Rock. Yeah.

[00:57:10]>> I mean, not exactly somebody who is a trusted expert on science or viruses or any of those things.

[00:57:16]>> How worried are you about the state of affairs when it comes to public health in this country right now?

[00:57:21]>> Right. Right. I mean, it'd be bad enough if it was just an unserious HHS secretary who did do plunges in their genes with Kid Rock and and uh um but it isn't that he's unserious. It's that he is dangerous. Right. This entire administration is dangerous from the fact that they don't have heads of the major agencies of health and human services. They just don't have people because people leave, right? Yeah. They don't they don't want to be a part of this. And uh and and when it comes specifically like to virus uh to Ebola, I mean us pulling out of the World Health Organization, right? We were a leading voice, right? Yes, we provided resources to the WHO because we are a resourceerish nation compared to so many of the countries that are part of it, particularly in Africa where Ebola is is rearing its head yet again. Yeah.

[00:58:04]>> Um but we receive back so much more than we ever put in as far as intelligence as far as like data so we can stave off these diseases, keep them contained. We should always be on the leading edge of these outbreaks. Whether it's on a cruise ship or it's in the Democratic Republic of Congo or wherever it is, we should be engaged. And the disengagement with that apparatus is dangerous. It should it should frighten people. And for the amount that we had that we saved, right, compared to the billion dollars or so for a ballroom or trillion dollars of tax cuts, like it's it's it's really nothing and it gets us a whole lot and it's missed.

[00:58:39]>> Yeah. Yeah. And and I think one of the things that needs to come up in the conversation at some point is what are we doing with healthcare in this country, uh it's going to be a major debate on the Democratic side heading into the 2028 campaign. It's obviously going to drive voters, I think, in these 2026 midterms >> because people are pissed about the so-called big beautiful bill and stripping all of that money from Medicaid and and we're still not seeing the the actual effects of that policy just yet. We're starting to see it, but not not the way it it probably will unfold over the next several months. Um, and I guess it raises the issue, what are we going to do about our health care system in this country? Because Trump, it looks like, is just going to drive it into the ditch >> and that is going to be a boon to the insurance industry because they're going to say, "Aha, see, this is why we should be running things when I think the the conversation needs to be had. How do we get towards universal healthcare in this country?"

[00:59:30]>> Right? And and I mean, our organization, the Committee Protect Healthcare, that is our northstar, universal healthcare.

[00:59:35]And we've we've intentionally not picked aside as far as how we get there. As many countries as there are in the world with universal healthcare, there are that many different systems. Yeah.

[00:59:44]>> Right. There's singlepayer, there's insurance companies that are regulated.

[00:59:47]There's, you know, systems that are like the VA in in England in the, you know, in the UK where it is governmentr run healthcare. And >> I don't know that any of those specific policies work in a country like ours, right, with a system we have in place.

[00:59:59]And so I think it's important that we call out the bad guys, right? We call out a Republicans who are cutting healthcare. We call out the profit takers, pharma, insurance, big hospital conglomerates. But I think it's also then we project a forward vision of what do we what is our goal, right? And if the goal is what you said and and what we believe is everyone can afford healthcare. Um I think that's where you start and then you figure out how you build it.

[01:00:24]>> And talk about paging America. I know we've talked to you before about this, but you're trying to get this going. Uh you've got it up and running. This is a place where folks where they can not just watch your segments on what's happening sort of news of the day but also just get really good reliable health information.

[01:00:39]>> Yeah. Yeah. I mean we're we're we're kind of doing a bit of reboot on YouTube and you can find us on Substack as well.

[01:00:44]You know certainly every week on Thursdays Paging America podcast comes out with myself and our chief of staff at the committee protect healthcare miles Baker kind of coming at it from the political side and we're exploring the the the politics of healthcare and how we build power for patients. But then yeah, we want to uh also bring to individuals uh who are listening and watching uh reliable information, you know, kind of dismantling the the disinformation that is out there when it comes to vaccines and and abortion pills. We want to have people talking about women's health in a kind of forward-looking way. And yeah, so they can find us Yeah. YouTube, uh Substack, uh Instagram, kind of any any of the socials, Paging America.

[01:01:20]>> Very good. All right, Dr. Rob Davidson, thank you very much. Appreciate it. And next time, can you give me if I'm if I'm missing an answer on this, you have to somehow give me a signal as to what that answer. You're not going to do that.

[01:01:32]>> No, but I think this was very interesting. I think that, you know, did I think I did not think I would get a 30 out of 30. I'll be really honest with you because knowing myself, I just would probably get something wrong. And I guess I kind of I kind of sort of did.

[01:01:46]Um though I will say that, you know, just going again looking back at this, um this is not something I would brag about, >> right?

[01:01:55]>> This is not something I would do. I would not brag about this.

[01:01:58]>> This is this is not something one does when they're of sound mind.

[01:02:03]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it seems to me >> I'm a Detroit Lions fan and Barry Sanders was my one of my heroes and they always said, "Act like you've been there before." When he got a touchdown, he handed it off to the ref and he went back to the bench. And it's like if you take a cognitive test, you get a good score and you just kind of go back to your day.

[01:02:18]>> I don't know that you talk to anybody.

[01:02:20]>> I Yeah. Why brag about it? Exactly.

[01:02:22]>> Um but I'm just glad I know which one is the camel.

[01:02:25]>> Absolutely.

[01:02:26]>> And which one is the lion >> and which one is the rhino? I feel good about all of that. Very good. Thank you, doctor. Appreciate it. Good to see you.

[01:02:32]All right.

[01:02:34]>> All right. There you go. My goodness. Uh that was a lot of fun. And I have to say Dr. Rob Davidson was terrific uh in presenting this test and he did tell me afterwards I will in full disclosure because unlike Donald Trump we are completely transparent here. Technically I did not get a 30 out of 30 because I did not get Daisy correct the first time I was asked what those words are. And it's what's interesting is is that there is a there's a second line that says category Q where he cues me and then I remembered the damn word. So that I guess you could say gave me a five out of five there, but not really. It was like a 4 something out of five. Um, so it was not I I did not get a 100 as the emoji goes.

[01:03:20]It's like almost a 30 out of 30, but at the bottom of this it says in parenthesis uh normal 26 out of 30. So, I definitely was way above normal. Let's just say I'm normal. I am a normal person. I took the cognitive test. I passed the cognitive test. I wouldn't say I aced it 100%. I didn't get a 100 score like Donald Trump, but I I did pretty well here. And I knew which one.

[01:03:47]So, you can see the lion. Very cute little lion. Cute little rhino. Cute little giraffe. There's my little clock picture. It's it's it's good artistic work here, I have to say. Although now somebody was being Now if somebody was like Benny Johnson or somebody was giving me this test, he probably would deduct for my penmanship or my artwork or whatever uh just to try to roast me.

[01:04:07]But I I think I did I did pretty well.

[01:04:10]And my little cube, it's true. I used to doodle all the time. My cube was pretty good. And I did this. So it and I will say this was a very interesting exercise and experience. Uh, but it it reinforces to me what I think I already knew going into it, which is this is something that the president of the United States should not be administered. The president of the United States should not be taking a cognitive test ever because we should be electing people to the office of the president of the United States where this is not an issue. And as Dr. Rob Davidson was talking about during our discussion, the fact that he keeps taking or he says he keeps taking it is strange. It is weird and it and it merits more coverage than we're actually giving it. I mean, the president of the United States, if he is actually taking multiple cognitive tests, hello everybody. That is a story.

[01:04:59]That is a major major story because this I can just tell you having done this.

[01:05:05]This is not something that you you should have to do unless you are at risk of being in cognitive decline. And I am not. You know, people can have their opinions about me, but I'm not at risk of cognitive decline. It's this is not an IQ test. You could think I'm a dumbass, but that's not what this is.

[01:05:19]This is whether you know what day of the week it is. This is about whether you know what a lion is, and so on. And so, I really appreciate Dr. Rob Davidson uh for administering this test and check him out at paging America. Uh that's it for this uh Memorial Day weekend edition of the Jim Aosta Show. Want to thank everybody for tuning in. I want to thank everybody uh for being a part of this independent media community that we've established here. If you can uh share, like uh support this episode by becoming a paid subscriber, if you're watching on Substack uh and you become a paid subscriber, you are supporting this work. You know, we ran out of studio, we got Dr. Rob Davidson in town, you know, these things, you just don't throw this together uh for free. You know, these, you know, and so whenever you support this program and uh act generously in that fashion, it means the world to me.

[01:06:09]It means the world to the team. and make sure we can keep going and add members of the team and uh and so on. Um and so just want to thank everybody for that as and if you're doing it on YouTube that means the world to me too but uh had a lot of fun with that episode and and really appreciate Dr. Rob Davidson. Also want to give a shout out to my pal uh Steve Schmidt uh and his uh I think very important words heading into this Memorial Day weekend. I I don't say it often enough, but you know, my gratitude to members of our armed forces, their families, you know, all of the people who are in harm's way uh this weekend um and and their family members, you know, please understand, it may not be said often enough to you and to your families for what you have done and what your families have have given to this country, but thank you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts here at the Jim Aosta Show. Um it it isn't said often enough. Um, but uh th this is what makes America America, people who give these sacrifices in service to their country.

[01:07:10]But in the meantime, uh, still reporting from Washington, I'm Jim McCasta. Have a great weekend. I'll see you next time.

[01:07:35]Heat. Heat.