Donald Trump has been accused of suffering a ‘cognitive collapse’ after appearing to suggest that Vladimir Putin fought for Russia in World War II, despite being born seven years after it ended
08:00 ET, 13 Jun 2025Updated 09:54 ET, 13 Jun 2025
Trump was accused of a ‘cognitive collapse’ following his remarks on Thursday (Image: Getty Images)
Donald Trump’s cognitive ability has once again been called into question as the president has been accused of making “delusional” remarks about Russia and Vladimir Putin’s involvement in World War II.
Speaking at a White House press conference on Thursday, Trump recounted a conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron about World War II commemorations before going into a rambling speech about how he was confused why “everybody hates” Putin. Trump appeared to suggest that the Russian leader personally fought in World War II, which ended seven years before Putin was born.
“I happened to speak to President Putin at the time. Now in all fairness to him [Putin], he lost 51 million people and he did fight,” Trump said. It comes just weeks after Trump was branded the “dumbest president ever” following a shocking 6-word error.
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In his latest historical blunder, Trump added: “Sort of interesting isn’t it, he fought with us at WWII and everybody hates him and Germany and Japan they’re fine. Someday somebody will explain that but I like Germany and Japan too.
“But Putin is a little confused by that you know, he said ‘we lost 51 million people and we were your ally and now everybody hates Russia and they love Germany and Japan.’ I said ‘let’s explain that sometime okay’ but it’s a strange world.”
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Trump also appeared to be unaware that it wasn’t Russia who fought alongside the allied forces of Great Britain, the US China, and France, it was the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was composed of 15 constituent republics, including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
The Russian Federation wasn’t formed until 1991 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union after the end of the Cold War. Trump’s numbers also appeared to be off.
According to the National WWII Museum, the Soviet Union suffered 24 million civilian and military deaths during World War II. Trump was quickly ridiculed for his comments on social media.
The president said he was confused why ‘everybody hates’ Russia and Putin(Image: Getty Images)
One person wrote on X: “My God indeed. Maybe someone should explain to him that Russia now invades democracies and threatens the West with 5,000 nuclear warheads, while Germany and Japan are peaceful allies. It’s not that complicated — unless your brain’s stuck in 1945.”
“There was no Russia during WW2,” a second noted. A third questioned: “Putin fought WW II? How old is he then?”
Another wrote: “It’s like he’s missing part of his brain, or it simply didn’t develop normally in certain ways — besides the fact that he’s profoundly ignorant of lots of important things.”
Trump appeared to suggest that Putin had fought in World War II(Image: Getty Images)
One even called for Trump to be arrested for treason. They wrote: “Putin wasn’t even born until 1952 — HE didn’t ‘lose 51 million people’ in WWII. Just because the Soviet Union was an ally in WWII doesn’t mean modern-day Russia under a dictator is some misunderstood friend. It’s absurd. Cozying up to a war criminal who poisons opponents and invades sovereign nations is not foreign policy — it’s betrayal. Arrest @POTUS for treason already.”
Others claimed Trump’s remarks were evidence of a “cognitive collapse” as his ability to lead was questioned. “Age limits for the presidency FFS. This ancient clown weezin’ through an ode to WW2 is not good,” one said.
A second wrote: “Dementia Donnie rambling again.” Another noted: “Delusional remarks to a room stunned into complete silence by his cognitive collapse.”
