# Do you need personal mental acuity to be President? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [February 9, 2024, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-personal-mental-acuity-to-be-president/997339 "2024-02-09T02:11:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-personal-mental-acuity-to-be-president/997339/1 "2024-02-09T02:11:32Z")
Not just a good job, just to function in any way at all. Inspired by the endless conversations elsewhere: “Biden is demented! Just listen to him; it’s obvious!” “He’s always been prone to misspeaking for reasons unrelated. Besides, he’s doing a great job as president.” “That’s debatable. Besides, [Reagan/Trump] prove that you can appear functional with the right handlers.” And I do get the point, but still, _president of the United States_… I’ve always instinctively felt, despite Reagan and Trump, that surely the government functioning at all smoothly is facial evidence of mental acuity? But I could be wrong! Enlighten me! ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-personal-mental-acuity-to-be-president/997339/2 "2024-02-09T02:17:05Z")
Yeah, your brain has to be working right for you to be president. If you want to do it well. You’re welcome. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-personal-mental-acuity-to-be-president/997339/3 "2024-02-09T02:53:00Z")
Getting the job and doing it well are two different things. You’re the customer here. Do you want the guy who finished last in his class, or somebody closer to the top? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-personal-mental-acuity-to-be-president/997339/4 "2024-02-09T03:01:59Z")
You’re forgetting about the Deep State, who really run things. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-personal-mental-acuity-to-be-president/997339/5 "2024-02-09T04:07:32Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Getting the job and doing it well are two different things. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-AYUB3tQs80/hqdefault.jpg "Joe Versus The Volcano - I Know He Can Get The Job") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AYUB3tQs80) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-personal-mental-acuity-to-be-president/997339/6 "2024-02-09T04:21:14Z")
Certainly. You’re handling some of the thorniest and most vital decisions in the world. You better be sharper than 95% of people. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-personal-mental-acuity-to-be-president/997339/7 "2024-02-09T06:14:23Z")
eh… nevermind ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-personal-mental-acuity-to-be-president/997339/8 "2024-02-09T17:54:23Z")
It depends what you would use your acuity to do. In the case of TFG, it is undesirable. In the case of Joe Biden, more is better. This may sound snarky, but I think a lot of American voters know it, and it’s a reason why Biden’s age is more of a political problem than Trump’s. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-personal-mental-acuity-to-be-president/997339/9 "2024-02-09T18:07:46Z")
You know, I seriously think you’re on to something here. Trump’s value prop for his cult does not rely on his mental acuity. The lack thereof is not a bug at all. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-personal-mental-acuity-to-be-president/997339/10 "2024-02-09T18:43:45Z")
Woodrow Wilson was debilitated by a stroke in October 1919 and left significantly impaired for the remaining year and a half of his term. His wife and inner circle concealed the severity of his condition. The Administration stumbled on but was seriously hampered, most notably in the fight to approve the League of Nations treaty. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-personal-mental-acuity-to-be-president/997339/11 "2024-02-09T22:22:04Z")
It’s not talked about so much anymore, but I remember when a favorite talking point of the Right was that Franklin Roosevelt’s health and mental acuity were so diminished by 1945 that Stalin was able to extract concessions from him at Yalta that a stronger, healthier FDR wouldn’t have agreed to. Roosevelt in June 1944. [![](https://www.politico.com/dims4/default/0ea228f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x1954+0+0/resize/630x410!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2Fe5%2F77%2F1749da5b4bb1af40760c9f6c1e21%2Froosevelt-gi-bill-ap.jpg) ](https://www.politico.com/dims4/default/0ea228f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x1954+0+0/resize/630x410!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2Fe5%2F77%2F1749da5b4bb1af40760c9f6c1e21%2Froosevelt-gi-bill-ap.jpg) Roosevelt 10 months later [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/FDR-April-11-1945.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/FDR-April-11-1945.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-personal-mental-acuity-to-be-president/997339/12 "2024-02-10T11:24:34Z")
I don’t know that that was a matter of mental acuity, so much as making the priority keeping Stalin on board for creating the UN - though granted, that might have been “old man in a hurry” syndrome.