Donald Trump Visits Hospital Under Unusual Circumstances
It’s not uncommon for presidents to keep information about their health secret from the public. Famously, Franklin D. Roosevelt suffered a severe polio attack at the age of 39, leading to paralysis in both legs, which he hid with crutches and steel braces, and John F. Kennedy, despite projecting an image of youth and vitality, suffered from Addison’s disease, an incurable disorder of the adrenal glands. Though current president Donald Trump has made public the results of his yearly physicals, the veracity of these reports is dubious, as his administration is infamous for distorting or outright fabricating information. Concerns about the president’s health escalated on Saturday after President Trump made an unscheduled visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he stayed for roughly two hours.
According to White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, the President “[took] advantage of a free weekend here in Washington, D.C., to begin portions of his routine annual physical exam at Walter Reed.” Additionally, the president tweeted about the visit, claiming that he took the opportunity to “[visit] a great family of a young man under major surgery at the amazing Walter Reed Medical Center,” and that he “began phase one of [his] yearly physical.” He added that “everything [was] very good.” Though the president does not smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol, he weighs 243 pounds and has a BMI of 30.4, making him medically obese. Additionally, he suffers from high cholesterol, for which he takes rosuvastatin. He also has heart disease, likely caused by his unhealthy lifestyle habits. Despite these problems, White House physician Ronny Jackson characterized Trump as being in “excellent health.”
There are a number of reasons to be skeptical of the official account of Trump’s health. At 73 years old, Trump is the oldest president ever to take office, and outside of golfing, he does not exercise. The president’s diet consists in large part of fast food, ice cream, and steak, which are his favorite foods, and he is undoubtedly under a tremendous amount of stress, resulting not only from the ordinary stressors of occupying the office of the presidency, but also from being the subject of an ongoing impeachment inquiry as well as the potential for being held accountable for crimes committed while in office. All of these factors increase one’s risk of heart attack or stroke, and some outlets report that the president was experiencing chest pain in advance of his unscheduled hospital visit. Though these reports have not been verified by major media outlets, it’s not hard to believe that the president suffered a cardiovascular event of some sort, given the circumstances of his health.
While Press Secretary Grisham claimed that the visit was part of his physical, the president’s previous physicals were scheduled in advance and were conducted by medical staff working in the White House. The claim that Trump underwent “phase one” of his physical is also suspicious, as yearly physicals are not generally conducted in phases. The president has no public events scheduled for today, Monday November 18th, even though a public event would make for an opportunity to dispel rumors about the president’s poor health. While Grisham pointed to the president’s “repeated vigorous rally performances in front of thousands of Americans several times a week” as evidence of his good health, these rallies generally involve the president speaking while leaning against a podium, which is not a particularly physically-demanding task. Furthermore, a source told CNN that a hospital visit like the one Trump had on Saturday is “not protocol.”
Donald Trump is not the only 2020 presidential hopeful to have suffered health issues. The three highest-polling Democratic presidential candidates, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders, are all in their 70’s and experience a tremendous amount of stress from the demands of campaigning. Last month, Sanders was hospitalized as a result of a heart attack, for which he received surgery to install two stents in his heart. Additionally, Joe Biden appeared to bleed from his eye during a CNN town hall event in September, though this was attributed to a burst blood vessel caused by a poorly-fitting contact lens.
Tyler Olhorst is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. You can reach him at inquiries@thenationaldigest.com.