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Former Donald Trump ally turned staunch critic Chris Christie has become the latest to sound the alarm over the former president’s apparent mental decline, saying that he has seen a “significant” change in his capabilities.
The former New Jersey governor told The New York Times opinion journalist Frank Bruni that the Trump he saw during his first White House bid in 2016 appears to be very different to the man running for a third time today.
“He wasn’t as good in 2020 as he was in 2016,” Christie said.
“I saw decline in his skills in ’20 from ’16, and you see significant declines still. What masks it is that he is still physically pretty vibrant and energetic, unlike the president.”
He added: “But if you listen to him and his ability to make a point, it’s not nearly as good now as it was in 2016, not nearly.”
Christie’s comments came just hours before Kamala Harris shared her medical report in what marked a thinly-veiled challenge to Trump to do the same.
In the two-page letter released on Saturday morning, the vice president’s physician Joshua Simmons writes that Harris is in “excellent health” and that she maintains a healthy, active lifestyle.
The 59-year-old vice president “possesses the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency, to include those as Chief Executive, Head of State and Commander in Chief,” the doctor writes.
The Trump campaign quickly fired back at the report insisting that the Republican candidate is “in perfect and excellent health to be Commander in Chief”.
“He has maintained an extremely busy and active campaign schedule unlike any other in political history, whereas Kamala Harris has been unable to keep up with the demands of campaigning and reveals on a daily basis she is wholly unqualified to be President of the United States,” claimed Steven Cheung, Trump campaign spokesperson in a statement.
“Her schedule is much lighter because, it is said, she does not have the stamina of President Trump. Polls are reflective of this,” he added, along with links to medical reports – one from almost a year ago in November 2023 and two about the wound to his ear following the assassination attempt in July.
Trump has famously refused to share detailed information about his health and medical history – despite the growing concerns about his age and mental acuity to serve another term.
At 78, Trump is now the oldest presidential candidate in American history. If elected, he would be 82 years old when he leaves the White House.
After President Joe Biden, 81, dropped out of the 2024 race following concerns about his own competency, attention soon turned to Trump’s own health.
Trump’s rambling and increasingly angry speeches focused on the past have been fueling concerns about his age and fitness to lead the country.
At his campaign rallies, Trump often leaps from one topic to another unrelated topic or train of thought, devolves into “word salads” and throws out wild claims and comments – with “the late, great Hannibal Lecter” making more than one appearance.
Then came his debate performance, where Trump wildly – and falsely – claimed that migrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
Leading mental health experts, including a former White House doctor, told The Independent that he is showing signs of “cognitive decline” and appears to “have lost touch with reality.”
Dr. Ben Michaelis, a clinical psychologist who has previously carried out cognitive assessments for the New York Supreme Court, warned that Trump is “really not in a strong cognitive place.”
With questions mounting about Trump’s competence, a growing number of mental health professionals have called for independent and objective cognitive testing of both candidates ahead of November’s election.
Make sense of the US election with The Independent’s experts in our exclusive virtual event ‘Harris vs. Trump: who will make history?’ Reserve your space here.
