President Donald Trump was meeting two guests in the Oval Office when cameras caught him holding a set of briefing cards that appeared to do more than simply list talking points.
They included photographs of the people Trump was meeting and instructions for the event — the kind of behind-the-scenes assistance that Republicans once seized on as evidence that former President Joe Biden was too mentally impaired to do the job.
The image is now giving Trump’s critics a chance to turn that line of attack back on him. Political commentators were quick to point out the clear similarities between Trump’s detailed briefing cards and the reference materials Republicans once mocked Biden for using.
Mental Fitness
The photograph has also revived a broader debate over whether Trump’s own age and mental sharpness deserve the same scrutiny that Republicans demanded of Biden.
The photo was taken Monday as Trump honored a 16-year-old California lifeguard and the 10-year-old he rescued. During a Tuesday podcast episode, progressive commentator David Pakman focused on the cards, which appeared to contain “photos of the two guests” along with “scheduling instructions.”
“There are legitimate reasons to examine Donald Trump’s fitness,” Pakman said, according to Raw Story. “60 percent of voters don’t think he has the mental sharpness to be president.”
Pakman said the cards appeared to be prepared by White House staff and questioned why Trump would need photographs and instructions to identify people he was meeting.
“It tells Trump what to do and what to say,” Pakman explained. “Can Donald Trump not even remember who two people are?”
Double Standards
He argued that the criticism surrounding Trump would sound familiar to anyone who followed the attacks on Biden during his presidency.
“This is exactly the type of thing that Republicans used to say Biden had dementia,” Pakman said. “The pictures would be circled in red. ‘Biden needs pictures to know who he’s with.’ Fox News would be running it continuously, and right-wing influencers would be saying, ‘Did Biden know where he was? Did Biden know who he was with?’”
Pakman noted that Republicans had treated Biden’s briefing materials as far more than routine prep, recalling how “some disgraced TV doctor would diagnose advanced dementia from 3,000 miles away.”
He then argued that the same standard should apply to Trump.
“If it did prove it about Joe Biden, according to these people, it must also prove it about Donald Trump.”
Pakman also pointed to other issues where he said Republicans had applied different standards to Trump and Biden, including gas prices, teleprompter use, falling asleep in public and former President Barack Obama’s golfing.
“What this proves is these Republicans don’t believe their own stupid standards,” Pakman said. “Because when Biden held a card, it was a national emergency. And when Trump holds one, he’s a very busy guy.”
An Ominous Warning
The latest controversy comes amid a series of recent episodes that critics have cited when questioning Trump’s mental acuity.
A licensed physical therapist who specializes in geriatric care, Adam James, warned back in March that Trump’s late-night Truth Social activity could be a sign of “sundowning,” a symptom associated with frontotemporal dementia in which agitation can increase during the evening.
“As you approach the evening hours around dinner time, the sun goes down, a dementia patient becomes more agitated, more paranoid, and more difficult to deal with in general,” James said. “We’re seeing that with the president right now. He posts, I mean, 50, 60, 100 times on Truth Social; the most random, unhinged slop, AI-generated videos.”
James also pointed to a “horrible racist video of the Obamas at 11:30 p.m. at night.”
“That’s high time for a dementia patient to be just completely paranoid, and we know that he really hates Barack Obama,” he said.
James cited Trump’s “forward-leaning posture in the standing position” as another potential characteristic of frontotemporal dementia.
James also accused Trump of confabulation, describing it as a symptom where someone with frontotemporal dementia fills memory gaps with fabricated information they genuinely believe is true.
Interviewer Dr. Steven Hassan called James’ assessment “really concerning” and noted unverified rumors alleging that Trump suffers from adult incontinence that entails “pooping in your diaper,” the outlet reported.
James said he had read that Trump was incontinent during “The Apprentice,” adding that “they had a guy there for him that he nicknamed ‘wet wipes,’ who was only there to clean up incontinence episodes.”
A Repeated Cycle
Trump has also recently stumbled over names in public. During a Friday event on Long Island, Trump appeared to forget the name of Saritha Komatireddy, the Republican candidate he endorsed to challenge New York Attorney General Letitia James.
“Where the hell are you… Ma’am? Where are you?” Trump called from the podium.
The controversy over Trump’s cards is particularly notable because Biden’s use of similar materials became a major political talking point. Documents obtained by Fox News in 2025 showed five “palm cards” containing photographs, names, biographies and talking points prepared for Biden.
Meanwhile, a White House spokeswoman, Taylor Rogers, defended Trump while attacking Biden’s use of briefing materials.
“President Trump gives unfettered access to the media and answers every question imaginable, without pre-screening the press questions or collecting reporters’ palm cards ahead of time like his incompetent predecessor,” Rogers said. “Unlike Joe Biden, President Trump is actually running our country, and he doesn’t ever shy away from taking on the fake news to deliver the truth.”
‘Dementia Don’
Still, critics quickly piled on after the image of Trump with the cards circulated.
“A mix of stupidity, dementia and a delusional view of reality makes for a real scarry POTUS,” one wrote in the comments of the report.
“Mental sharpness?, how about incredibly stupid,” another added.
Further down, the jokes wrote themselves.
“Oh come on, give SpongeBrain DiaperPants a break, he’s busy watching Fox, which leaves little brain memory god presidenting.”
“A cheat sheet for dementia don,” one person quipped on Threads.
