Trump has frequently questioned Joe Biden’s suitability. Now, as he prepares to become the second president after Biden to reach age 80, he faces questions about his health and fitness.
White House denies claims that President Trump fell asleep during Cabinet meeting
President Donald Trump faced accusations of falling asleep during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, December 2, after footage showed him with his eyes closed.
President Donald Trump wanted everyone to know he wasn’t falling asleep on the job.
During a long cabinet meeting in December, the president closed his eyes and appeared to be dozing off, prompting an explanation to be sought at the next cabinet meeting. He told them that he had closed his eyes during the last meeting because he was “bored.”
“I didn’t sleep. I just closed it because I wanted to get out of here,” Trump said, adding, “I don’t sleep much.”
Trump, who derided his predecessor with the nickname “Sleepy Joe,” has faced increasing questions about his fitness as his second term progresses, sparking a strong backlash from the president and his allies.
But the spotlight on Trump’s health is likely to intensify as he prepares to join an exclusive club of White House occupants in their 80s created by the president, whom he often derides.
Mr. Trump, who was elected as the oldest president in history on June 14, will be the second person to take office at age 80, following Joe Biden, who withdrew from the 2024 campaign due to concerns about his age and mental acuity after coming under pressure from his own party leaders not to seek re-election.
Mr. Biden has sparked a national debate about aging and leadership, fueled by Mr. Trump’s persistent questioning of his opponent’s mental capacity. President Trump is currently celebrating a major birthday milestone, and his health is under intense scrutiny. That includes questions about swollen legs, bruised hands, and perceived drowsiness, not to mention behaviors that most Americans consider erratic, as polls show.
Mr. Trump is trying to negotiate an end to the Iran war and make other important decisions at a time when many are slowing down. He regularly boasted that he had “passed” cognitive tests and sought to assure the public that he was up to the task, saying after a medical exam last month that “everything checked out perfectly.” He continues to tout his vigor, which is central to his political advocacy.
“Most people don’t welcome frailty, but I think he’s very sensitive to frailty and wants to distance himself from any signs of frailty,” said Gwenda Blair, Trump’s biographer.
whether he wants attention, Surveys show that most Americans are concerned about the suitability of the president.
“80 years is not what it was before.”
An April Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll found that 55% of U.S. adults do not believe President Trump is “in good physical health to effectively serve as president,” up from 28% in 2023. Nearly six in 10 also believe the president does not have the “mental acuity” necessary for the job.
Amid growing public concern, the president’s doctor said he was “perfectly qualified” to serve as president, and White House press secretary Davis Ingle said his energy was “unparalleled.”
“President Trump is the sharpest and most approachable president in American history, working tirelessly to solve problems and deliver on his promises, and is in excellent health,” Ingle said.
It’s not surprising that someone Trump’s age would face health problems. The president has surpassed – By 3 and a half years – Average life expectancy of American men.
But around half of men now live into their 80s, and the wealthier and better educated tend to live longer, Steven Austad said., He is a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and an expert on aging. Trump was a billionaire with an Ivy League degree, and his father lived to be 93.
“Eighty is not what it used to be,” Austad said, adding, “The question is, what kind of 80 are you?”
Mr. Trump has long sought to project a strength that Mr. Blair described as “ultimate masculinity,” and the president’s allies insist he still has plenty of energy. They point to his busy schedule, which includes public events, travel, late-night posts on truth social sites, and regular interactions with the media.
“Most people at a fraction of his age would die to do what he did,” said Sean Spicer, who served as White House press secretary during President Trump’s first term. “I mean, I’m in my 50s, but in a way I’m excited about the fact that I’m in bed hours before he stops telling the truth.”
White House officials say that even though turning 90 is a significant milestone in his life, Trump does not tend to reflect on it, and the president does not talk about his birthday. Former Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said this has always been the case.
“From the time I’ve known him, he doesn’t really like to celebrate when it comes to birthdays,” McCarthy said, adding, “That’s his style.”
This year, President Trump will hold an Ultimate Fighting Championship contest at the White House on his birthday, but White House officials said it was just a matter of good timing for the event and was not conceived as a birthday celebration.
biographer Blair, He said he believes it makes sense to use force on a day when President Trump’s advanced age is in the spotlight, saying it would demonstrate “total strength.”
Trump has long criticized what he sees as Biden’s weaknesses. As Biden occupies the Oval Office in his 80s, concerns about how his age has affected him could lead to increased scrutiny of Trump. But McCarthy said the two cannot be compared.
“There’s a fundamental difference, and it’s different in many ways,” McCarthy said, adding, “I think you could put Mr. Trump up against any president in the history of our country, and I still believe he’s better than them.” In his case, age is not the deciding factor. ”
Swollen legs, bruised hands, eyes closed
But questions about Trump’s health have mounted in President Trump’s second term.
The president was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency last year. The disease is a benign condition that causes swelling in the lower extremities, and White House doctors said it is common in people over 70.
Trump has also experienced bruises on his hands, which doctors attribute to a combination of aspirin (an anti-inflammatory drug and blood thinner commonly taken) and regular shaking hands.
Additionally, the president’s stamina has come under scrutiny because he sometimes stretches with his eyes closed while others speak in public..
“Donald Trump’s inability to stay awake at work indicates that there is something very wrong with his health and cognitive abilities,” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) said during a June 3 Congressional hearing questioning Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the December Cabinet meeting.
“I never saw him fall asleep,” Rubio said. On the other hand, that person doesn’t sleep.
Trump is clinically obese, according to recent body measurements. The president disparages any exercise other than golf as “boring,” joking: “At most one minute a day. If I’m lucky.” Meanwhile, Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the president was eating “really bad food,” noting that he was consuming McDonald’s, candy and Diet Coke.
“He has the constitution of God. I don’t know how he’s alive, but he’s alive,” Kennedy said in a podcast interview.
President Trump’s doctor recommended exercise and weight loss. But overall, the president’s “cognitive and physical abilities are excellent” and he is in “sufficient health to carry out all the duties of commander-in-chief and head of state,” White House physician Col. Sean Barbavera wrote summarizing the results of last month’s medical exam.
President Trump has undergone four medical exams in 13 months, raising questions about how often he visits, the types of tests performed and what doctors are looking for.
“There’s a reason why he continues to go to the hospital and undergo cognitive testing,” Liu said at the June 3 hearing.
Mehmet Oz, the doctor who oversees the Medicare and Medicaid programs, told reporters on June 2 that President Trump continues to receive medical exams because he “likes the results.”
“I actually believe he wants to make sure everything is going in the right direction,” Oz said. “He is a very methodical person.”
Oz held up a copy of a doctor’s report summarizing President Trump’s recent medical exam, calling the results “excellent.”
“That amount of energy, that amount of mental acuity, doesn’t exist in a vacuum,” Oz added. “You need a ship to carry it, but the president has the unique ability to keep moving forward with incredible strength at any time of the day.”
Is Trump more insane?
One of the biggest concerns as the population ages is the possibility of a decline in decision-making ability, aging expert Austad said.
“The conventional wisdom is that…aging brings wisdom, but after a certain point that’s no longer true,” he says. “That’s why scammers target the elderly.”
A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 61% of Americans believe the president has become “less stable with age,” and only 45% believe he is “mentally alert and able to meet challenges.”
Some of President Trump’s recent statements have caused bipartisan alarm, most notably his threat to destroy the entire “civilization” of Iran while pressuring the regime in Tehran to comply with his demands.
“Tonight an entire civilization will perish and never return,” the president posted on social media in April, just before announcing the cease-fire.
Democrats then introduced a bill that would create a commission to evaluate President Trump’s fitness to serve as president and recommend whether to invoke the 25th Amendment. Some members of the MAGA media have suggested using the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which provides procedures for removing the president from office.
“We stand on a dangerous precipice, and it is now a national security issue for Congress to protect the American people from an increasingly volatile and volatile situation,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said in a statement about the bill.
In addition to President Trump’s comments about Iran, Raskin also addressed the president’s feud with the Pope and the fact that he posted an image of himself online that looked like Christ. President Trump’s late-night social media posts have drawn attention for containing AI-generated images, ranging from bizarre to highly controversial.
A Christ-like image posted by President Trump and a video depicting President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as monkeys were both deleted after receiving backlash. While these posts raise questions about President Trump’s judgment, his round-the-clock social media use is also cited as a sign of his tirelessness.
Partisan views on health
Republican pollster Whit Ayers said polling results on President Trump’s health and mental state are colored by people’s partisan views of the president.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 89% of Democrats think President Trump has become less stable as he ages, compared to just 30% of Republicans who say the same.
“The answer to that question reflects more about how people feel about Donald Trump than it does about how they feel about age,” Ayers said.
Doctors’ reports about Trump’s health may not upset many people. Aging expert Austad, He said the presidential administration has long hidden negative health information from the public and suspects “no one believes it.”
However, people can draw their own conclusions.
“We get to see him a lot, we get to hear his voice a lot, and I think people can judge for themselves to some extent,” Austad said.
No matter what people think about Trump’s health and fitness, Austad said there are risks to having a president in his 80s. An 80-year-old person may be highly functional, but is likely to go downhill quickly, potentially leading to poor judgment, he said.
Austad said the country, which has had two consecutive presidents in their 80s, may be ripe for a “national discussion” about presidential age limits when Trump leaves office.
“I’m very much against ageism, but I’m also a realist,” he says. “No matter what you think about Trump’s record in office so far, it could be very different in a month.”
