“Why do you think that you’re the only president that that happens to?” the host asked.

Jon Stewart has the perfect response to Trump saying he’s ‘the only president to take a cognitive test’

"Why do you think that you’re the only president that that happens to?" the host asked.

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and NME.

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May 5, 2026 12:44 p.m. ET

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Jon Stewart; Donald Trump. Credit:

Matt Wilson/Comedy Central; Kent Nishimura/AFP via Getty

- Donald Trump recently boasting about being "the only president to take a cognitive test."

- Jon Stewart had the perfect follow-up question, asking, "Why do you think that is?"

- *The Daily Show* host dug into the crates for a previous on-air math quiz the President took 20 years ago on *The Howard Stern Show*.

Jon Stewart would like Donald Trump to think long and hard about why he’s being asked to take so many cognitive tests.

The late-night comedian reacted to Trump recently boasting about having to take the exam multiple times on Monday’s episode of *The Daily Show*. The 79-year-old president made his remarks at a Florida press conference on Friday, declaring himself “the only president to take a cognitive test” and explaining that the assessment involved looking at several animals and properly identifying one of them was a bear.

“You’re the only president to take the cognitive test. Let me ask you a question: Why do you think that is?” Stewart posed to Trump on his show as the audience burst into cheers and applause.

Stewart hosts 'The Daily Show'.

Matt Wilson/Comedy Central

The host continued, “Why do you think that you’re the only president that that happens to? That for some reason, every time you go to the doctor — which is a lot — the doctor’s always like, ‘Hey, while you’re here, if you could come over here and just explain very quickly which one of these is the bear?’”

The footage then cut to Trump sharing more details about the exam, which included a math component that the former reality star claimed many people couldn’t pass but that he handled with ease.

“The answer was bear,” Stewart joked in response. “But no, no, let me not be dismissive. No, Trump is a regular Stephen Hawking. That’s what it is. Although I thought the only thing they had in common was being in the Epstein files.”

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He continued, “And by the way, the wild thing is Trump seems to be almost getting smarter with age because this is how he handled math questions 20 years ago on *The Howard Stern Show*.”

A clip from the episode showed Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr., being asked to perform quick math and multiply 17 by six, with the politician claiming that the solution was “11, 12.”

“Eleven, 12 isn’t a real number. That’s two numbers, just placed side by side. I guess it’s the 2000s equivalent of 6-7,” Stewart remarked. “So I apologize. I know you’re a genius. Try again.”

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On a second attempt, Trump guessed that the answer was 112, which is, again, incorrect. “Yeah, so that is a number, but it’s still wrong,” Stewart said. “It’s 102. But, somehow, we’re supposed to believe that 20 years later you’ve turned into a f---ing genius! You’ve turned into a working class janitor at MIT solving quadratics between mopping up.”

The host quipped, ‘You know, I can’t believe they ever gave Trump the FIFA Math Prize.”

Trump has continued to brag about his cognitive achievements in the days since, repeating the animal identification question at the White House Small Business Summit on Monday, but this time with a squirrel.

“They are hard,” Trump said of the test’s questions. “There are many people in this room I know that are smart, they’re not gonna ace ‘em. There are many people standing back there, the fake news media there, I’d like to have them [take it].”

Watch Stewart ask Trump about his cognitive tests in the clip above.

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Late”