Let's apply the Biden rule to talking about Trump's health

Alert the media: The White House is lying about Trump's health

From The Onion

Their explanations are absurd and it's time to start asking questions.

Donald Trump held a bonkers press conference on August 22 during which he lied about his authoritarian occupation of Washington DC and fantasized about sending troops to occupy other cities with Black leaders.

Given the stakes, it might seem inappropriate to focus on attire. Trump, however, was noticeably casual for an Oval Office event. Unless he’s on the golf course, he typically wears a suit with an obligatory red tie. But he didn’t bother with a tie, and he wore a baseball cap that boasted “Trump Was Right About Everything.”

Trump’s boundless egomania is not unusual, but the head covering did raise larger questions. He also made a determined effort to hide the back of his right hand from cameras.

Trump wanted to hide his right hand for a reason. Pictures show it slathered with what seems like several coats of Sherwin-Williams.

Trump’s hand still looked rough during a later press event where his hand was no longer coated with makeup, but visibly bruised.

Something clearly is up with the 79-year-old president, and the official explanations don’t make sense. That’s not surprising given that Trump is a world-class liar surrounded by toadies who surrendered their shame long ago. But it’s past time for reporters to ask some questions.

The mainstream media are still in self-flagellation mode over how they purportedly “ignored” former President Joe Biden’s decline. (In reality, they never stopped talking about.) But this soul-searching is apparently only backward looking and exclusive to Democratic presidents.

Trump has never behaved in a manner you could reasonably define as “rational,” but since returning to power, he’s been more unhinged than ever — launching destructive trade wars, persecuting his political enemies, and sending troops into US cities. Biden’s age was an ongoing story even while he otherwise governed like a normal person, but so far the media has not even considered a connection between Trump’s disordered actions and his health.

How sick is Trump?

In response to images of his obviously ailing hands and swollen ankles, the White House revealed in July that Trump has chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), a condition that occurs when the leg veins become damaged and struggle to send blood back up to the heart.

Trump’s physician, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, acknowledged the hand issues in a July memo that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt read to the press pool.

“This is consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin, which is taken as part of a standard cardiovascular prevention regimen,” she claimed.

Yes, Leavitt — who has a skill for stating total bullshit with conviction — really leaned into the handshaking excuse. She told the Daily Beast 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.”

In case you find that explanation unpersuasive, Leavitt offered another one. She claimed bruising is a “well known and benign side effect of aspirin therapy.” This should’ve set off alarms or at least mild curiosity from the White House press corps.

Aspirin therapy is traditionally prescribed in people with heart disease or who are at a high risk of it. Low-dose aspirin is a blood-thinning medication, and popping them like a daily multivitamin carries significant risks, such as gastrointestinal bleeding and a stroke caused by a burst blood vessel. In fact, most medical guidelines generally reject daily aspirin use for people who have low risk of a heart attack or stroke, particularly those over the age of 60 who are more prone to bleeding side effects.

Against that backdrop, it’s shocking that since July, no major news outlets have done serious investigations about Trump’s health and what the White House is trying to cover up about it.

Trump received a coronary calcium CT scan as part of a routine physical exam in 2018. His previous White House physician, Ronny Jackson — who also demonstrated an absurd willingness to lie about Trump’s health — revealed that Trump’s coronary calcium score was 133 (anything over 100 indicates heart disease in the patient).

And yet the media seems to have accepted Leavitt’s “frequent handshaking” diagnosis. Photos from last Saturday showed Trump with bruising on his left hand too. Are we to believe that he’s double-fisting his handshakes now?

Red, blistered, and peeling skin, as well as swollen hands and feet, are considered serious side effects from aspirin therapy. Trump is incredibly vain. It’s hard to imagine that he would accept a treatment whose side effects are even slightly disfiguring unless absolutely necessary. It doesn’t require going down the rabbit hole of tinfoil-hat conspiracy theories to simply ask some basic questions about the president’s health.

It’s reasonable to question the Trump administration’s candor about his actual condition. In April, Barbabella released a glowing physical exam that declared, “President Trump remains in excellent health, exhibiting robust cardiac, pulmonary, neurological, and general physical function.” Has Trump’s health declined since then, or was Barbabella misleading people?

Don’t believe your lying eyes

Rich Lowry at the National Review dismisses the very idea that Trump is in decline. He wrote last week that “of all the criticisms to make of him, that he’s frail and easily fatigued is preposterous.”

But it’s far less preposterous if you remove your MAGA hat and actually look at Trump in public. He fell asleep several times in court during his criminal case in New York (yes, that was just last year). During a meeting in Saudi Arabia this May, Trump looked like he was about to doze off like a tired grandpa right after dinner.

Last month, Trump could barely keep his eyes open during a televised White House event on “Making Health Technology Great Again,” and he struggled to stay awake during an event in Pennsylvania. Moreover, visible bruising from “excessive” handshaking would suggest a Montgomery Burns-level of frailty. 

Barbabella described CVI as “a benign and common condition,” which it arguably is for a 79 year old who is not the sitting president. But Biden was never graded on so generous a curve. 

Consider a 2022 hit job in The Hill that claimed his “recent memory lapses, losses of temper and outbursts (such as calling one Fox News reporter’s question ‘stupid,’ or referring to another reporter as a ‘stupid son of a bitch’ while talking into a microphone) could be considered clues to possible cognitive problems.”

Biden’s temper was hardly a new development, and linking these “outbursts” to cognitive impairment requires audacity after Trump spent his first term posting unhinged screeds on social media. 

And finally, this

His childish cyberbullying has since advanced to straight-up mobster shakedowns in broad daylight of politicians, universities, and private companies.

Whenever Biden confused the names of world leaders, it was front page news. But Trump also frequently flubbed names on the campaign trail. On Monday, a confused Trump called Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer "Kristi — uh, Kristi Whitman. Whitmer.”

If the media unquestionably accepts Trump’s CVI diagnosis, they should at least badger Leavitt with questions about how Trump is managing his condition. CVI tends to develop in people who spend a lot of time on their feet and midterm campaign season is arriving soon. Will Trump still have his regular hate rallies?

The relentless coverage of Biden’s age reinforced a public perception about his fitness. So Trump and Republicans in general benefit when the media shrugs off his obvious health issues as Trump just being Trump.

🤝 Subscribe to PN 🤝