I once texted my mom a screenshot because I remembered my own Wi-Fi password on the first try, so I understand the urge to celebrate a small win. That’s roughly where the Trump cognitive test memes started on Wednesday, when Donald Trump told a rally crowd in Bullhead City, Arizona, that he’d been given five words, repeated them later and pulled it off “because I’m a freakin’ genius.”
The words, per the clip from @Acyn, started with hat, hair and logo, and transcriptions of the last two vary a little depending on who you ask. The New Republic’s piece on Trump’s latest version of the cognitive test points out that the details tend to change with every telling, which might be the only part of the story everyone agrees on.
Can an 8-Year-Old Pass It Too?
The biggest branch of jokes asked the obvious follow-up: who else can do this? Parents went first. James Surowiecki reported back that his 8-year-old nailed all five words, and another dad compared the whole thing to his son proudly lifting a leg one inch off the ground and waiting for applause.
As a former kid who once demanded a sticker for tying one shoe, I feel seen and a little attacked. The alphabet crowd had the cleanest version of the joke, though.
Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV Got a Sequel
This isn’t the first five-word list to turn into a meme. Back in July 2020, Trump described a memory question to Fox News that went person, woman, man, camera, TV, and the internet has never really let that one go. People spotted the rerun within hours.
The Trump Cognitive Test Has a Math Section Now
Wednesday’s version came with arithmetic, too. In another clip, Trump walks through taking a number, tripling it, dividing by four, adding 37, adding 293 and a few more steps before announcing, “I got it right. Nobody gets it right.” A separate clip posted by Aaron Rupar had him describing a picture question with a lion, a bear, a giraffe and a snake, which inspired one of the meaner comparisons of the day.
Who Brags About a Screening Test?
A lot of replies landed on the same point from different angles: this is a short screening exam, not a Mensa entrance test, so the victory lap is the funny part. I’ll admit I once bragged about passing the vision test at the DMV, so I’m not throwing stones from a very tall house.
He also turned to the crowd and suggested only a few people in the audience could pass it, which is a bold thing to tell people who drove out to an Arizona rally to see you. The replies to that clip were, let’s say, less family friendly.
Somewhere out there, an 8-year-old is still waiting on his genius certificate.
Need more proof that a single rally clip can feed the internet for days? Trump Wince Memes Turned One B-1 Flyover Into Instant Comedy and Trump Los Angeles San Diego Reactions: Two Cities Would Like a Word both answer that, and Trump Gold Phone Memes: The T1 Rollout Got Weird has the receipts.
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Alex Thompson has been chronicling internet culture and meme phenomena for nearly seven years. Starting at CollegeHumor and later becoming lead meme editor at Mashable, Alex has covered everything from vintage internet memes like Rickrolling to recent viral events such as Corn Kid and Grimace Shake. With a keen eye for what connects and entertains digital audiences, Alex writes with humor, relatability, and deep knowledge of online culture. At Thunder Dungeon, Alex is the go-to source for meme analysis, viral breakdowns, and internet nostalgia.
