A White House spokesman said Monday that when President Donald Trump has his annual physical on Friday, a mental health evaluation won’t be part of the routine.
Spokesman Hogan Gidley swatted away the question with a curt ‘no’ as he briefed reporters aboard Air Force One.
Trump, 71, will undergo a routine checkup at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center near Washington, D.C.
Gidley also defended Trump’s description of himself as a ‘stable genius,’ saying the choice of words was a direct response to how reporters misunderstand him.
‘Most of the press calls him unstable and stupid,’ deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said.
‘But the record shows quite a difference, than what the media is trying to portray. He comes back with exactly what he is. He’s brilliant, not just in the business world, but as a political tactician, as a president. The accomplishments speak for themselves.”
Gidley said journalists who speculate about the state of the president’s mental health are ‘ridiculous’ and ‘repugnant,’ particularly those who devote stories and broadcast interviews to doctors who have no firsthand knowledge to share.
It’s an ‘absolute dereliction of duty for journalists to report, as fact, psychiatrists who have never sat down with the president [or] have a conversation with him,’ he said.
‘The people who are in with him consistently talk about how incredible he is. I’ve met with him [on] multiple occasions. He’s sharp as a tack, he is a workhorse. He demands his staff to be the same way,’ Gidley added.
But Democrats, he complained, repeat talking points holding that ‘Republicans are just stupid, can’t accomplish things and don’t have the capacity to serve.’
Trump swatted down claims of mental instability over the weekend, calling himself ‘a very stable genius’ and ‘like, really smart.’
In a series of Saturday morning tweets, Trump played defense in his battle with the author of a new book that painted a chaotic and dysfunctional picture of his campaign and the early months of his presidency.
‘Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart,’ Trump tweeted.
The commander-in-chief added that although doubts about his mental capacity have been frequently raised by his critics, he proved them wrong with his ‘successful’ career in television and business and his stunning victory in the 2016 election.
In a series of tweets on Saturday, Trump called himself “really smart’ and ‘a very stable genius’
‘I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius….and a very stable genius at that!’ he said
Questions surrounding Trump’s competence for office intensified following the release of ‘Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House’ by Michael Wolff, which included shocking claims, including doubts among Trump’s senior aides about his mental fitness in the role of ‘leader of the free world.’
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders faced questions three days in a row about Trump’s mental health and his ability to serve as commander-in-chief.
Sanders said that what ‘is really mentally unstable is people that don’t see the positive impact that this president is having on the country.’
Trump’s father, Fred Trump, died in 1999 after a six-year battle with Alzheimer’s Disease, a degenerative brain-wasting condition.
DailyMail.com asked Trump about it during an August 2015 campaign press conference in New Hampshire.
‘He was 88 years when he developed it, and he died at 94,’ Trump observed at the time.
The president is currently 71.
Asked if he had any concerns about his own mental health, he replied: ‘No. Not whatsoever.’
Donald Trump, 17, said on August 19, 2015 that although his father died following a six-year battle with Alzheimer’s Disease, he wasn’t diagnosed until age 88
Joe Scarborough (right) said Monday that he’s tried twice to write in his Washington Post column about claims that Donald Trump has dementia, but the newspaper censored him
The ‘Morning Joe’ host interviewed author Michael Wolff (shown) about his new book ‘Fire and Fury’
‘My mother was 88, 89, and she was in amazingly great health. And my father, too, was in great health. They lived long lives.’
‘Morning Joe’ co-host Joe Scarborough said Monday it’s an open secret that Trump is losing his mind, and The Washington Post has steadfastly refused to let anyone write about it in its pages.
‘I’ve written twice in my column a quote about one of the people closest to Donald Trump during the campaign saying he’s got early stage of dementia,’ Scarborough said.
‘But twice The Washington Post hasn’t – would not let me put that in my column,’ he added.
Fred Trump is seen at right in 1987, six years before his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, along with Trump, his first wife Ivana, and his mother Mary
Wolff wrote in his book that nearly everyone who is regularly around the president is aware of his declining mental state.
‘Until your book came out, this was something we were not allowed to speak about,’ Scarborough told him.
Wolff said most journalists who cover the White House daily are uncomfortable writing about such an explosive claim because it would shut off their access to the administration.
But a book’s author, he argued, doesn’t have that problem.
‘You can’t say what you know, or all that you know, because you have to go back the next day,’ Wolff said, adding that ‘I could say it because I’m not going back.’