Trump called his wife "Mercedes," experts suggest he has developed dementia

Question

Former US President Donald Trump Might not be fit to run for office after all as new speculations regarding his mental health take center stage. According to reports from local media outlets, health experts are issuing a stark warning to the country’s commander in chief and how his brain might be d…

Answer 1

Claim: Trump calls his wife 'Mercedes,' experts suggest he has developed dementia

This claim is false

There are two claims that need to be investigated based on this claim.

1. Trump calling his wife Mercedes

2. Experts suggestion of Trump having dementia

Trump did not call his wife the wrong name as people have claimed on Facebook and X. Trump talked about Melania's success as first lady before turning to his left to say, "Mercedes, that's pretty good." At that point trump was talking to Mercedes Schlapp, his former White House strategic communications director. Trump referenced Mercedes multiple times during his speech and looked to Mercedes who was sitting in the front row each time. Click here to view PolitiFact's fact check of this claim as well as the original video of Trump's speech.

Donald Trump took a dementia screening in 2020 to prove he didn't have dementia according to the Alzheimer's Society. There is no conclusive evidence since then that Trump has dementia. None of the claims that cite experts have cited specific individuals or any evidence that the claim they are making is true. The article cited in this claim does not contain any information about what experts they are referring to.

Comments

Good job going back to the original video! Context is incredibly important to stories like this. I also commend you for breaking down this claim into smaller pieces and disproving each aspect of it. You left no room for doubt in your research and included multiple reputable sources to justify your answer

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Way to go to the root of the claim to discern the truth. Since this is an issue of what someone said, I think the best way to figure it out is by watching the original.

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You continue to provide well thought out and structured fact-checks. Good work!

Answer 2

There is no available information online to substantiate this claim that former president, Donald Trump, has dementia. This article provides no proper attributions to legitimize their claim that Trump is developing dementia. The only source that they cite are reports from "local media outlets" and "health experts", however these sources are not named. The article claims that this report originated from a video of Trump calling his wife Mercedes, but in the actual clip it is shown that Trump is turned to and referring to his former White House director of strategic communications, Mercedes Schlapp. There is also no evidence in media reports about Melania Trump attending the Conservative Political Action Conference, the event where the clip took place.

Sources: 

PolitiFact | No, Donald Trump did not call his wife ‘Mercedes’ instead of Melania

Comments

I think you did a fair analysis of the situation. Unnamed sources are tricky, and with no one to verify these claims it's impossible to know for sure if this is true or not. Good job!

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This is a good analysis. It does get a little hard when there isnt a named source. Which makes it hard to truley know if its true.