Ronald Reagan’s daughter says cognitive tests are a ‘good idea’ for presidential candidates

Ronald Reagan’s daughter, Patti Davis, weighed in on the age issue at the forefront of the 2024 election on Sunday and said presidential candidates probably should face cognitive tests while running for office. 

Before President Biden was elected, Reagan was the oldest person to be elected president, at the age of 69. 

“Now, obviously, the president is in his 80s, former President Trump, the frontrunner, is in his late 70s. Do you think there should be cognitive tests for people running for the highest office in the land?” NBC Host Kristen Welker asked. 

“Probably, yeah. And just what we know about what age can do, it doesn’t always do that, but it would probably be a good idea. Yeah I know, my father was 77 when he left office after two terms, and it seems so young now, doesn’t it?” Davis responded. 

Asked if it felt like he was old at the time, Davis said he was not someone who was fractured in age.  

“I don’t think it did because it was ’87, I believe, when he stood in front of the Berlin Wall and said ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.’ So that was not someone who was fractured in age. I mean yes, I probably thought he was old because he was my father and we think that about our parents, but not in the way that we are talking about now,” she continued during the media appearance.

Welker also asked Davis what she thought Reagan’s message would be to politicians today.

“I think he would want people to look at one another as human beings. You know, that’s why he and Gorbachev were able to do what they did, which was world changing at the time, because they looked at each other as human beings and that’s what’s missing now. You know, these were two people who were put on the stage of history at a moment in time to, in my opinion, do what God intended them to do. They might not have, you know? But they were both two people who I think had the same agenda of looking at each other as a human being,” she said. 

Reagan’s daughter also said her father would be “so appalled” by the current state of politics.

“He didn’t understand lack of civility. He didn’t understand attacking another person. I mean, he could be pretty pointed in what he would say about someone else, but he didn’t understand cruelty and that’s what we’re dealing with now, and I think he wouldn’t understand that, and I think he would be really scared for our democracy,” Davis said.

She said division in this country stems from fear and cited the fear Americans have of mass shootings while walking into a public place like a church or a school. 

“We’re scared, and fear morphs into anger. It just does, it’s not sustainable. We don’t want to be afraid, we don’t mind so much being angry and there are people on the public stage and on the political front who understand very well about the synergy about fear and anger and who are masterful at exploiting it,” Davis said. 

GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley has called on Biden and Trump to take mental acuity tests as age remains a top issue in the 2024 race. 

“But what happened with Joe Biden this week, and what we’ve seen with Donald Trump is another example of why we have to face the reality of the fact that when you get to those ages, you get diminished,” she said, referencing the Special Counsel report on Biden’s handling of classified documents. “These are people making decisions on our national security. These are people making decisions on the future of our economy. We need to know they’re at the top of their game.”