Donald Trump would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency”, his personal doctor testified back in 2018, while a former White House physician said as recently as last month that the overweight orangeman was “by far the healthiest” in comparison to his two immediate predecessors, Barack Obama and Joe Biden. But you may be shocked to hear that these bold claims may not be true.
The Wall Street Journal has published a quite astonishing piece – to which Trump himself contributed – which paints a rather different picture of the president’s health. Among other things, it tells how Trump takes more aspirin than prescribed, believing the tablets to literally thin blood, has marks on his hands as the result of being “whacked” and eats several different McDonald’s in the same meal.
Trump made an impromptu call to the newspaper – which he is currently suing for $10 billion over its coverage of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal – after learning it was covering his health, and gave it a lengthy and trademark rambling interview.
He told the WSJ how he takes 325mg of aspirin per day, rather than the 81mg dose recommended by doctors as “they say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don’t want thick blood pouring through my heart. I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart” (blood thinners do not literally thin blood).
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The 79-year-old also insisted he had not nodded off during public meetings, saying he closed his eyes at times because he finds it “relaxing”. As for the obvious bruising seen on his hands, which has caused endless speculation about the true state of his health, Trump said he carried makeup in case his hand got “whacked” by well-wishers. “I have makeup that’s, you know, easy to put on, takes about 10 seconds,” he said.
Last February, Karoline Leavitt, his press secretary, put the blame for the bruising on the large number of handshakes involved in his duties, telling Fox News that “President Trump is a man of the people and he meets more Americans and shakes their hands on a daily basis than any other president in history”.
The paper also reports how Republican National Committee chairman Joe Gruters was shocked by Trump’s eating habits when they travelled together during the last presidential campaign. While flying to a campaign event, according to Gruters, Trump ate fries, a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburger, a Big Mac and a Filet-O-Fish in one sitting.
Still, his doctor, Navy Capt Sean Barbabella, told the WSJ how Trump was “in exceptional health and perfectly suited to execute his duties as Commander in Chief” – so that’s all right then.
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