The daughter of former President Ronald Reagan, who was the oldest president-elect when he took office, on Sunday backed the idea of cognitive tests for presidential candidates.
“Probably yes,” Patti Davis told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” when asked if there should be cognitive tests for presidential candidates.
He added: “What we know about what age can do it – it doesn’t always do it – but it would probably be a good idea.”
Reagan was 69 years old when he was elected in 1980, setting the record for being the oldest president ever elected.
Since then, former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden have each broken that record, with Trump elected at age 70 in 2016 and Biden at age 78 in 2020.
“My dad was 77 when he left office,” Davis said, adding, “That seems pretty young now, doesn’t it?”
Reagan announced In 1994, five years after leaving office, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 83.
Davis added that Reagan would be “appalled” by the state of politics today, including the negative rhetoric coming from both sides of the political spectrum.
He said he would “really fear for our democracy” if he were alive to witness the politics today.
“He didn’t understand rudeness. He didn’t understand attacking another human being,” Davis told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
“He didn’t understand the cruelty and that’s what we’re dealing with now,” he said.
Never a Republican, Davis has been before criticized GOP. He said Republicans are tarnishing his father’s legacy by not even taking a tougher stance against Trump. telling CNN In 2019, Reagan will be “horrified” by Trump’s America.
Davis wrote about her sometimes tense life and relationship with her parents, including during her father’s presidency, in her new book, Dear Mom and Dad: A Letter About Family, Memory, and the America We Once Knew. “