America's founders never anticipated elected officials wanting to hang on to power, meaning that officeholders should face cognitive testing and term limits, neurosurgeon and former Trump cabinet member Ben Carson said Monday.
Appearing on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," Carson, who worked as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development during the Trump administration, lamented recent cognitive lapses by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., 81, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., 90.
"Our founders were very wise people, but what they did not anticipate is that people will want to stay in these offices for extended periods of time," Carson said. "They didn't realize that people would not be able to give up power, which is problematic because as people age, they deteriorate both mentally and physically."
Though not all seniors have serious cognitive decline — "some 95 years old are sharp as a tack," Carson noted — some elected officials "are not going to voluntarily give up these offices."
"We need to start thinking about how can we protect ourselves as a society. And it's pretty simple," he said. "At the annual physical examination, make sure you include a mental status exam."
Carson went further, suggesting that term limits will also address the question of aging leaders who don't want to abandon their political grip.
"I'm in favor of both of them," he said.
Carson said cognitive testing for elected officials should begin at age 70 — and suggested President Joe Biden, 80, may be dodging it.
"The cognitive testing is so easy. They're like 30 questions and a mini-mental examination asking people to count down, for instance, from 100 by sevens," Carson said. "And giving them three objects and then asking [the person] a few minutes later, 'What were those three objects?'"These are not Einstein-type tests," Carson said, but rather ones "to make sure that your cognitive functions are adequate. ... There's a reason that the current administration will not do that."
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