Dear Editor:

Try to pass one part of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test: Connecting the words.

Donald J. Trump has taken and passed this screening exam for dementia and Alzheimer’s several times since becoming president. Apparently mistaking it for an IQ test, he pronounces himself a “very stable genius.”

So, here goes. Here are five proper nouns; you must show the connections between and among them: Fuentes, Loomer, Ye, Carlson and Trump ... How did you do? (Answer: President Donald J. Trump is the hub radiating four interrelated spokes.)

A long answer would include the following: Nick Fuentes, the founder of Groypers, a “homophobic, nativist, fascist, sexist, antisemitic, Islamophobic” group, is seeking to drive the Republican Party to Nazi-level white supremacy. His “army” participated in Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 riot, and he supported the candidacy of Laura Loomer for Congress.

Laura Loomer, the far-right conspiracy theorist (9/11 was an “inside job;” the Parkland High School massacre “was staged”), is now one of Trump’s closest advisors. She has been praised by Fuentes and Ye for her antisemitism.

Ye (Kanye West), Holocaust denier and composer of “Nigga Heil Hitler,” enjoyed a long, nationally televised chat with Trump in the Oval Office on Oct. 11, 2018. At one point, he told the president: “So, there’s theories that – there’s infinite amounts of universe and there’s alternate universe so it’s very important for me to get [Larry] Hoover [convicted for murder, racketeering, and drug trafficking] out because in an alternate universe, I am him ...” Helpfully, he added, “There’s a lot of things affecting our mental health that make us do crazy things that put us back into that trap door called the 13th amendment.”

On Nov. 22, 2022, Trump dined with Ye and Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago. Tucker Carlson, an ardent Trump supporter, interviewed Fuentes two weeks ago, providing him a platform to legitimize his call for a “holy war” against Jews and his claim that “Blacks need to be imprisoned for the most part.”

President Donald J. Trump, the self-proclaimed genius, could easily pass this part of the test by connecting himself to these racist, antisemitic liars with his trademark Sharpie.

Bill Hammond

Boothbay