Trump's medical exam didn't indicate mental illness

The argument

The argument rests on the documentary record produced by medical examination rather than on an assessment of conduct. Two formal evaluations are cited. In 2018, Ronny Jackson asserted that Donald Trump was in "excellent" physical and mental condition. The following year, in 2019, a group of 11 medical specialists concluded that he was in "very good health overall." These were examinations conducted by physicians with direct access to the person being assessed, which is the standard basis on which any clinical judgement about an individual is made. The argument's force comes from the contrast with how the question is usually discussed. Claims about a public figure's mental health are typically advanced by people who have never examined them, on the basis of behaviour observed at a distance and reported through intermediaries. An examination conducted in person by a clinician is a different kind of evidence, and on this view the two are not comparable. A further point concerns the cognitive assessment specifically. Cognitive tests are not usually included in the president's annual physical, so their absence from earlier examinations indicates nothing either way. In response to rumours circulating about his mental health, Trump took one, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, and scored a perfect score. Because the test was administered in answer to the question being raised, its result speaks to that question directly rather than incidentally. The conclusion drawn is a narrow one. Every formal examination that has been carried out has returned a finding of good health, and none has indicated mental illness. On that basis proponents hold that Donald Trump is not mentally ill.

Context

Donald Trump undergoes a medical assessment every year carried out by certified professionals. These have not revealed any mental health issues.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Even if the medical had uncovered a serious mental health issue, the public would not know about it. The president is granted the same rights to health privacy as everyone else. This means that he is allowed to decide what details about his health are released to the public. In his assessment, medical professionals could have diagnosed him with Alzheimer's or dementia, but the public would have no right to that information. In fact, it is almost certain that any mental illness would not be disclosed out of national security concerns.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] Even if the assessments revealed mental illness, the public reports would not include it.