Day 322: Trump Slurs Through Another Speech, Raising More Questions About Health
The media has begun asking why Trump is continuing to be so secretive with his health records and status.
Yesterday, during a speech declaring Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the United States’ intention to move the embassy there from Tel Aviv — a sudden move that has further destabilized the already volatile region — Donald Trump started slurring his words. By the end of his speech, his attempt to say “United States” was almost completely unintelligible.
Some people have inquired whether Trump is suffering from a neurological issue or is having a reaction to medication. Others assumed it was an issue with dentures. The White House called it a benign case of dry mouth.
This isn’t the first time Trump has flubbed words during a speech. Trump has stumbled and slurred through other speeches in recent months, including when he welcomed then-Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri to the White House in July and during a proclamation to the South Korean National Assembly last month.
It’s also worth noting that the only medical professional to directly weigh in on Trump’s health in any real way is Dr. Harold Bornstein, an internist and gastroenterologist. During the campaign Bornstein infamously wrote a note — in five minutes while Trump’s limousine waited outside his office — that hyperbolically declared, “If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”
While Trump vowed to release his full medical history, much like his tax returns, that never materialized.
As The Washington Post noted, questions regarding Trump’s physical and mental status are popping up more frequently at White House press briefings.
Trump won’t commit to a physical, never mind a psychiatric evaluation. Here’s an exchange between CBS News Radio’s Steven Portnoy and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at Thursday’s media briefing:
PORTNOY: I have a question about the president’s health. Mr. Trump’s predecessors, going back — I checked as far as Ronald Reagan — every year would go up to Bethesda to be looked at by the best doctors in the military, and they would report on their health and their vital statistics to the American public. We have a month left in the year. Does President Trump intend to get a physical at Walter Reed?
SANDERS: I’d have to ask. That’s not something I’ve checked on, but I would be happy to check on it.
PORTNOY: Do you know if the president intends to share any details about his health the way his predecessors have?
SANDERS: Like I said, I haven’t asked him that, but I’d be happy to check.
Sanders was asked a similar question during a briefing in August. “I’ll let you know if that’s going to happen,” she said then.
An official medical report on the president’s health, in general, and his mental capacity, in particular, does not appear to be forthcoming. That leaves the media to wonder, and they are increasingly doing so aloud.
Safe to say those questions will continue, and speculation surrounding why Trump refuses to get a physical with top military physicians at Walter Reed, like his predecessors did, will only grow louder.
322 days in, 1140 to go
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