Podcast Summary

Podcast: Countdown with Keith Olbermann
Episode: WHY DO THEY KEEP GIVING TRUMP COGNITIVE TESTS?
Date: October 30, 2025
Host: Keith Olbermann

Overview

This episode centers on the persistent question of why Donald Trump, now President again, continues to publicly announce – and apparently receive – scheduled cognitive tests, and what this may suggest about his health, the White House's concerns, and the American political-media landscape. Olbermann dissects Trump's pattern of bragging about these tests, probes possible implications for his mental state and fitness for office, and critiques the mainstream media’s handling of Trump’s potential for violating democratic norms, including speculation about overextending his presidential tenure. The episode also features Olbermann’s signature humor, biting commentary, and a “Worst Persons In The World” segment.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Mystery of the Recurrent Trump Cognitive Tests

• Main question:
  Mary Trump’s question highlighted by Olbermann:
  “Why the hell do they keep giving him cognitive tests?” (02:46)

• Olbermann observes Trump has bragged about passing at least two cognitive tests in 2025, roughly six months apart: April 11 and (most likely) October 10 (03:21).

  • "If they are not giving him pre-scheduled cognitive tests every six months, that's a hell of a coincidence." (03:24)

• Raises the issue of why there was also an MRI this time. MRIs can be for trivial reasons, but cognitive tests every six months are never trivial (03:57–04:13).

• Trump’s own boasting:
  Trump conflates cognitive tests with IQ tests, brags about acing them, and frames them as evidence of being smarter than political opponents, particularly Democratic women of color (AOC, Jasmine Crockett).

  • "A tiger, an elephant, a giraffe, you know, when you get up to about 5 or 6 and then when you get up to 10 and 20 and 25, they couldn't come close to answering any of those questions." —Trump (04:54)

• Trump admits to having taken the tests several times:

  • "I've done about four times and I've taken, I've taken the cognitive test, I think four times and I'm done. I've got nothing wrong." —Trump, April 11, 2025 clip (05:38)

• Olbermann tallies at least four known Trump cognitive tests:

  • Montreal Cognitive Assessment (2018)
  • “Person, woman, man, camera, tv” test (2020)
  • April & October 2025
  • Possibly another in January 2024

Notable Quote

"You do not get cognitive tests for trivial stuff every six months." —Keith Olbermann (04:07)

2. Possible Explanations and Theatrics

• Olbermann speculates these tests are likely not at Trump’s behest, but more probably are a requirement imposed by others, trying to ensure he meets a minimal threshold of mental competence (08:10–09:20).
• Trump appears to confuse cognitive tests with IQ tests and takes pride in them, missing the irony:
  • "It says so on the test with the picture of the giraffe on it, even though the only word in that description of very stable genius that appears to apply is 'very.'" (09:29)
• Muses on Trump’s confusion between “asylum” (refuge) and “mental asylum,” linking it perhaps to his own childhood and time at New York Military Academy (10:00–11:35).

Notable Quote

"It is absolutely certain that they keep giving the President of the United States tests to see if he can pass the minimum standard for cognitive capacity." —Keith Olbermann (08:59)

3. Trump’s Boasting: Physical Health & The ‘Soul’ Gaffe

• In an odd boast, Trump claims a Walter Reed physical “showed he had a good heart and a very good soul,” something Olbermann ridicules:
  • "Your physical showed that your soul is just fine. It's not an irregular soul, and your soul is not hyperextended and you don't have Peyronie's soul disease." (11:35)

4. Media and Political Reaction to Trump’s Tenure Speculation

• Trump has vaguely asserted he won’t seek a third term, but Olbermann warns this might simply be rhetorical cover for extra-constitutional action:
  • Laments the credulity of the Washington press corps, who fail to press him on what “clear” means (13:56–14:19).
  • Highlights the strategic ambiguity — by refusing to firmly rule it out, Trump preserves the option of challenging or extending term limits.

Notable Exchange:

• "Can't be accused of trying to run for a third term if you cancel the 2029 election or make some other extra constitutional violence based attempt to not leave the White House. Huh?" (14:19)

• Speaker Mike Johnson and Senator Tommy Tuberville both make comments on term limits; Steve Bannon, meanwhile, claims there’s an undisclosed plan to keep Trump in power (15:00–18:04).

• Olbermann points to dangers of “revisionist” interpretations of the 22nd Amendment (term limits), warning these ideas are floated specifically to create legal ambiguity.

5. The Broader Media, News Leadership, and Corruption

• Olbermann critiques the trend of British (and other foreign) executives running U.S. news outlets, and their repeated failures in handling Trump, with CNN’s Mark Thompson as latest example (32:45–35:45).
• Mocks rumors and right-wing proposals to place partisan actors (e.g., Erica Kirk, Bari Weiss) at the top of supposed merged news entities like NBC/MSNBC/CNN.
• Accuses Comcast of effectively bribing Trump with donations for White House renovations (29:00).

Notable Quote

"It's funny that the fascists are on this anti immigrant kick when it's clear the most dangerous immigrants to this country, pasty white guys from England... and people like Mark Thompson." (31:45)

• Olbermann’s “Worst Persons In The World” segment lampoons Steve Bannon, Rich Greenfield, and Mark Thompson for their various actions (27:10–35:45).

6. Sports Anecdote: The Kirk Gibson Home Run Prediction

Timestamps: (39:52–45:45)
Olbermann shares a personal story about accurately predicting Kirk Gibson’s home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, using it as a lighthearted sign-off and nod to his own long media career.

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On the cognitive tests:
  "Why the hell do they keep giving him cognitive tests?" —Mary Trump, as echoed by Olbermann (02:55)

• Trump on the test:
  "Those are very hard...they're really aptitude tests, I guess, in a certain way, but they're cognitive tests. Let AOC go against Trump...I don't think Jasmine...they couldn't come close to answering any of those questions." —Trump (04:54)

• Trump’s physical finds a ‘good soul’:
  "Your physical showed that your soul is just fine. It's not an irregular soul, and your soul is not hyperextended and you don't have Peyronie's soul disease." —Olbermann (11:47)

• On the 22nd Amendment:
  "The revisionist version of this, of course, is that this only applies to someone being elected to two consecutive terms. This useful bullshit rationalizes that...from the 22nd amendment point of view, Trump is right now only in his first term." (17:33)

• The media’s collapse into irrelevancy:
  "If you are hankering for the days when there were only three TV networks doing only half an hour of news a night, hey, we may get back there and damned fast." (30:59)

Important Timestamps & Segments

• 02:13–09:45 — Why is Trump continually tested? What does it mean? Trump’s own admissions.
• 10:45–12:15 — Trump’s personal history with “asylum,” speculations on his childhood.
• 13:55–18:45 — Trump’s hints about a third term, discussion of constitutional limits and right-wing strategies.
• 27:00–35:45 — "Worst Persons In The World": Bannon, Greenfield, Thompson; the state and future of major news networks.
• 39:52–45:45 — Olbermann’s baseball prediction story, closing thoughts.

Tone & Style

Olbermann’s delivery is characteristically rapid, sardonic, and scathingly critical of both Trump and the U.S. political-media establishment. He mixes sharp analysis with humor and sarcasm, frequently deploying vivid analogies, digressions, and personal anecdotes.

Summary Takeaways

• The frequency and regularity of Trump’s cognitive tests appear unusual and suggest real concern about his mental acuity.
• Trump’s public boasting about passing cognitive tests, confusing them with intelligence tests, highlights both his fixation on perceived strength and lack of self-awareness.
• Olbermann indicts the media and political class for their complicity or weakness in confronting Trump’s anti-democratic tendencies.
• The episode reflects on the shifting, fragile state of American news media in the Trump era, expressing deep skepticism about its ability to serve as a check on power.
• Even as Olbermann skewers politics, he ensures the episode closes on a lighter, personal sports story, maintaining his unique blend of commentary and storytelling.

For listeners seeking trenchant political analysis, biting humor, and a media-savvy perspective on why Trump's cognitive testing obsession matters, this episode delivers classic Olbermann.