Officially, the US President is “exceptionally healthy”. But the more often the soon-to-be 80-year-old is examined, the more questions arise – and the more nervous the White House reacts.
May 27, 2026, 05:24May 27, 2026, 05:24
Concerns about the US President’s health again: Donald Trump made his third medical check-up visit on Tuesday. The annual appointment at Walter Reed Military Hospital is nothing special in itself. Only: Trump is the oldest US president at inauguration. In addition, in recent months he has increasingly caused speculation with bruises and naps.
According to his own statements, he is in excellent health: But Donald Trump cannot hide the signs of age.Image: keystone
Trump’s health and physical fitness are a central part of his political identity – also because he himself repeatedly emphasizes this issue. In the 2023 and 2024 election campaigns, he particularly highlighted his energy in comparison to former President Joe Biden, whom he called “Sleepy Joe”. The term “Sleepy Don” has now spread online, as the current president regularly falls asleep in front of the camera during press events.
As a rule, the statements from the press office always sound similar: Donald Trump is “in excellent health” and, according to the official medical report, “exceptionally healthy”. Most of the statements would be credible if it weren’t for the Internet and the pictures of Trump’s swollen legs and the bruises on his hands. The latter were often heavily and conspicuously made up.
Trump’s ankles were also noticeably swollen at times.Image: keystone
Trump explained the bruises with frequent handshakes, and his spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt also cited blood-thinning medications as the cause. As the White House announced after a follow-up examination about a year ago, Trump also suffers from chronic venous insufficiency – a disease of the leg veins that occurs primarily in older people. Trump turns 80 on June 14th.
Healthier than Obama
But that doesn’t stop Trump and his team from talking about his health as if he were a professional athlete at the peak of his career. The Republican claims that his doctor from his first term in the White House told him that he was healthier than his predecessors Barack Obama and George W. Bush. The two were significantly younger than Trump when they took office and played sports regularly. The 79-year-old’s training program is currently limited to golf – including a caddy and golf cart.
His eating habits also resemble the fantasies of a teenager rather than the diet of a healthy adult man. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a podcast that Trump eats “really bad food – McDonald’s, candy and Diet Coke. He drinks Diet Coke all the time.” The behavior is worse when traveling than at home in Mar-a-Lago or in the White House, but: “I don’t know how he’s still alive,” said RFK Jr. in the podcast.
Trump’s Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. considers his eating habits questionable.Image: this last weekend
Trump also regularly treats his supposedly good results in cognitive tests – including a dementia test – as proof of his fitness. In February, he said a doctor told him he was the “healthiest person ever.” The statement is supported by his employees, who regularly talk about the energy of the president, who even works on Saturdays, among other things.
A “wall of shame”
In the USA, one of the peculiarities of politics is that presidents regularly provide public information about their health. It is not required by law.
After his last examination at the military hospital in a suburb of Washington in October, according to his personal doctor, Trump was not only in good health, but in significantly better shape than his age would suggest. At the time, Sean Barbabella came to the conclusion that Trump had the heart and vascular system of a 65-year-old.
Critics complain that publications about Trump’s health often contain rosy words but hardly any independently verifiable facts. The president himself provided the latest example on Tuesday. After completing the doctor’s visit, he wrote on the Internet service Truth Social: “Everything is PERFECT,” without revealing any details.
At the same time, the White House is increasingly cracking down on rumors about Trump’s health. After speculation began circulating in April that the president would be hospitalized again after Trump had not been seen in public for several days, the government released a digital “wall of shame” listing influencers, reporters and media outlets who had spread or picked up on the rumors. (aargauerzeitung.ch)