Trump Appears To Forget His Own Texas Endorsement As Experts Cite Palpable Mental Deterioration

President Donald Trump appeared to forget his own endorsement of a Texas Senate candidate less than 24 hours after posting three separate messages urging voters to support her, raising fresh questions about his mental fitness as medical experts warn of 'palpable' cognitive deterioration. When asked about the crushing defeat at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday, the 79-year-old president seemed confused about the race he had heavily promoted just one day earlier. 'I don't know', Trump said. 'I did not hear about it. Somebody ran it where?'

Democrat Taylor Rehmet decisively defeated Republican Leigh Wambsganss by 14 percentage points on Saturday in Texas Senate District 9, flipping a seat in a district Trump won by 17 points in 2024.

Trump Distances Himself After Loss

When reporters clarified they wanted his reaction to the Texas race, Trump quickly distanced himself from the result. 'I'm not involved in that. That's a local Texas race', he told reporters at his Florida estate on Sunday.

Yet just hours earlier on Saturday, Trump had posted several messages on Truth Social urging voters to support Wambsganss. 'The Radical Left Democrats are spending a fortune to beat a true MAGA Warrior, Leigh Wambsganss', Trump wrote in one post. 'You can win this Election for Leigh, who has my Complete and Total Endorsement.'

Political Ramifications of Texas Defeat

The Texas loss represents a significant setback for Republicans ahead of November's midterm elections. Rehmet, a union leader and Air Force veteran, won 57% of the vote despite being vastly outspent by Wambsganss, who raised more than £2.5 million compared to Rehmet's £380,000 ($514,100).

'In a Trump +17 district, Republicans had to go all out and still lost this race', Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement. Republican Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick called it 'a wake-up call for Republicans across Texas', whilst Wambsganss herself warned in a statement that 'the Democrats were energised' and 'too many Republicans stayed home'. Rehmet's victory adds to Democrats' record of overperforming in special elections during Trump's second term, including gubernatorial wins in Virginia and New Jersey.

Medical Experts Sound Alarm

The apparent memory lapse has intensified scrutiny of Trump's mental health, with multiple medical professionals and former White House officials expressing concern about his cognitive decline. Ty Cobb, who served as White House special counsel during Trump's first administration, told MS NOW that 'the dementia and the cognitive decline are palpable, as do many experts, including many physicians'.

Dr John Gartner, a psychologist and former Johns Hopkins professor, has stated he believes Trump is exhibiting 'clinical signs of dementia' that are exacerbating his behaviour. Gartner said that the type of dementia Trump shows signs of having is 'frontotemporal dementia', which causes the frontal lobes to deteriorate and 'disinhibits people to basically act out badly'.

Dr Vin Gupta, medical analyst for NBC News, expressed particular concern about Trump's recent confusion between Greenland and Iceland, difficulty completing sentences and memory issues. 'There's a lot of similarities in what we're seeing more and more frequently', Gupta said, comparing Trump's behaviour to that of his father Fred Trump, who had age-related cognitive decline before his death in 1999.

Pattern of Confusion and Memory Lapses

The Texas incident follows a series of episodes that have raised questions about the president's mental state. Trump recently needed White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to remind him of the word 'Alzheimer's' whilst discussing his father's diagnosis during an Oval Office interview.

'He had one problem. At a certain age, about 86, 87, he started getting—what do they call it?' Trump said during the New York Magazine interview, pointing to his forehead and looking toward Leavitt for help. Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel highlighted Trump's repeated confusion between Greenland and Iceland during his recent speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos. 'Trump claims the safety of the world depends on the United States owning Greenland, which he repeatedly confused with Iceland. He called Greenland "Iceland" four different times', Kimmel said.

Cognitive Testing Questions

Trump has repeatedly boasted about 'acing' cognitive tests, most recently claiming in a Truth Social post that he scored '100%' for the third time. However, medical experts have noted that repeatedly taking the Montreal Cognitive Assessment typically indicates doctors are monitoring for cognitive decline rather than ruling it out.

'Those that tend to do Montreal tests with that level of frequency, usually we're worried about the presence of early-stage dementia or cognitive impairment', Dr Gupta said. 'So he might be ruling himself in to something that he doesn't want to rule himself into.' The White House has declined to provide details about Trump's cognitive tests or medical examinations, despite Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying she would provide this information 'at a later date'.