Trump Appears To Forget Word For “Alzheimer’s” – His Niece, Mary Trump, Suggests He May Have It
Trump says he doesn’t have Alzheimer’s: “You know why? Because whatever it is, my attitude is whatever.”
Featured Image: Donald Trump sits in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City, on May 28, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Kelly / Pool / AFP via Getty Images)
In an interview with Ben Terris of New York magazine, published January 26th, Donald J. Trump discussed his father, Fred Trump, who died in 1999 at the age of 93.
“He had one problem,” said Trump. “At a certain age, about 86, 87, he started getting, what do they call it?” He then pointed to his forehead, according to Terris, and looked at White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt for an assist.
“Alzheimer’s,” Leavitt chimed in.
“Like an Alzheimer’s thing,” Trump said. “Well, I don’t have it.”
Ben Terris then asked, “Is it something you think about at all?” Trump replied, “No, I don’t think about it at all. You know why? Because whatever it is, my attitude is whatever.”
I went to the Oval Office to interview Trump and his doctors about his health https://t.co/ZewYNJunxm
— Ben Terris (@bterris) January 26, 2026
Could the President of the United States possibly have the dreaded condition that robs millions of the full function of their mind? Mary Trump, his lesbian niece, thinks it’s quite possible, based on family experience. “Sometimes it does not seem like he’s oriented to time and place,” she told New York magazine. “And on occasion, I do see that deer-in-the-headlights look.”
Donald Trump’s nephew, Fred C. Trump III, 61, has also told the press that it runs in the family, and that Trump has downplayed it. He said of Donald Trump’s behavior, and the connection: “Like anyone else, I’ve seen his decline. But I see it in parallel with the way my grandfather’s decline was,” he told People in November 2024. “If anyone wants to believe that dementia did not run in the Trump family, it’s just not true.”
“You have to understand,” Fred Trump said, “he still went to work every day — that was part of the thing.”
During the course of Trump’s father’s decline, family members reportedly set up a pretend work space with blank papers to sign, so as to create a routine and the illusion of productivity.
In the interview, Fred G. Trump III said that Donald’s cousin, John Walter, also had dementia, and Donald’s late sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, displayed similar symptoms before she died in 2023, though she had not been diagnosed. (Alzheimer’s is sometimes, but not always, linked to genetic risk factors.)
Many who have cared for people with Alzheimer’s often recognize its distinct signatures: the glassy-eyed stare, the exaggeration of previously difficult personality traits, and the classic combination of memory loss, rambling speech and diminished inhibitions. Trump turns 80 this year. And while reporting and public observation cannot take the place of a medical diagnosis by independent specialists, his cognitive decline has been widely noted.
Of course, there’s a difference between a progressive neurodegenerative disease and personality disorders, which Mary Trump, as a clinical psychologist knows. She has communicated extensively about the family environment that in her view, gave rise to the terror we are witnessing in real time. In her book Too Much and Never Enough, Mary Trump, chronicled Fred Trump Sr.’s toxic parenting, and abusive and neglectful behaviors which she believes shaped Donald J. Trump.
While in general, in her podcasts, Mary Trump tends to focus more on what she speculates to be her uncle’s personality disorders (“narcissism” and “antisocial personality disorder (ASPD),” she revealed a bit more on The Daily Beast Podcast in November 2025.
“I know enough about how to assess certain kinds of neurological disorders and of course as you said, my grandfather had Alzheimer’s for a very, very long time,” Mary Trump said. “I’m more comfortable speaking about the untreated longstanding psychiatric disorders Donald’s had but there are times I look at him and I see my grandfather. I see that same look of confusion. I see that he does not always seem to be oriented to time and place.”
“His short term memory seems to be deteriorating and obviously this is somebody who has never had a great deal of impulse control but that too is deteriorating as well,” she added. “So there are many, many red flags and many questions that are not being answered by the administration.”
Last week as Trump ranted at Davos about conquering Greenland, the red flags were waving: “I mean, our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland,” he said. “So Iceland has already cost us a lot of money. But that dip is peanuts compared to what it’s gone up… I’m helping Europe. I’m helping NATO. And until the last few days, when I told them about Iceland, they loved me. They called me daddy. A very smart man said, ‘He’s our daddy, he’s running it.”
For all the mockery his many gaffes arouse, the embarrassment for our country gives way to grave concern, when one takes seriously the possibility that the President of the United States could well have dementia—along with control of the world’s most powerful nuclear arsenal.
For more information about Alzheimer’s, link to Alzheimer’s Association here.
