Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a Politico interview that he believes President Donald Trump is suffering from cognitive decline and that it has become “much more pronounced,” describing the condition as “a sad state of affairs” and expressing concern that those around the president are failing to intervene.
Pritzker, who took office in 2019 and said he dealt with Mr. Trump during the early pandemic years, told Politico he has noticed a change in the president even without recent direct contact. “I think the man has dementia,” Pritzker said, gesturing to his head and adding, “I don’t really understand how it works up there for him.” He told the publication he felt signs of deterioration “from day one, during the campaign,” and that the present condition is noticeably worse.
Expressing sympathy for anyone with cognitive illness, Pritzker said those close to the president appear unwilling to challenge him. “Someone who’s suffering from dementia — they genuinely need help, and there’s no one around him who wants to help him. All those people are just sycophants. They just love their jobs. They don’t want to get fired,” he said, adding that aides could be dismissed “at any moment.”
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Pritzker’s comments add to a string of public questions about Mr. Trump’s mental acuity from Democrats and some former administration figures. The Illinois governor — frequently mentioned as a potential presidential contender for 2028 — has sparred with Mr. Trump in public before; he noted in the interview that the president regularly singles him out, often in offhand remarks and personal attacks. “He doesn’t seem to like me,” Pritzker said, pointing to repeated mentions by Mr. Trump that sometimes seem to come “completely out of the blue.”
The exchange comes as Mr. Trump has repeatedly and publicly defended his cognitive fitness by touting his results on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a screening tool for cognitive impairment. “I’ve taken three,” the president said this week, adding, “No president, think of this, has ever taken one,” and that he “aced all of them.” Those assertions have not quieted criticism: California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Sen. Ruben Gallego, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, Rep. Jasmine Crockett and others have all publicly questioned the president’s cognitive condition, and at least two former members of his administration have said they observed signs of decline.
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Pritzker’s blunt diagnosis is likely to intensify the public debate over Mr. Trump’s fitness for office as the president continues to dominate political discourse and repeatedly raises the topic of cognitive testing himself. The comments were delivered in a wider Politico interview in which the governor discussed his political standing and past interactions with the president.
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