Here’s a recent photo of President Grievance:
not only was Trump's right hand discolored on Christmas Eve, but it appears his left hand is now discolored too (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty)
Just in time for the New Year, the Wall Street Journal has a story about his health. Let’s read it together.
President Trump is taking more aspirin than his doctors recommend. He briefly tried wearing compression socks for his swelling ankles, but stopped because he didn’t like them. And he regrets undergoing advanced imaging because it generated scrutiny of his health.
[deletia]
Trump gets little sleep and has recently struggled to keep his eyes open during several televised events in the West Wing. Aides, donors and friends say they often have to speak loudly in meetings with the president because he strains to hear. Aside from golf, Trump doesn’t get regular exercise, and he is known to consume a diet heavy on salty and fatty foods, such as hamburgers and french fries.
The large dose of aspirin he chooses to take daily has caused him to bruise easily, he said, and he has been encouraged by his doctors to take a lower dose. But Trump has declined to switch because he has been taking it for 25 years. “I’m a little superstitious,” he said in the interview.
“They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don’t want thick blood pouring through my heart,” Trump said. “I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart. Does that make sense?”
If you want to bleed to death, I guess.
The president has sometimes described his medical care inaccurately. He has for weeks said that he underwent an MRI at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in October. When asked about the procedure by the Journal, Trump and his doctor said he got a different form of imaging: a CT scan.
A CT scan is a faster and more common way to capture detailed images of the body. The MRI is a slower test that is superior for soft tissues.
“It wasn’t an MRI,” Trump told the Journal. “It was less than that. It was a scan.”
Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, Trump’s doctor, confirmed in a statement to the Journal that Trump had received a CT scan. Barbabella said Trump’s doctors initially told him they would perform either an MRI or a CT scan, and they ultimately decided to do the latter. Barbabella said the CT scan was done “to definitively rule out any cardiovascular issues” and revealed no abnormalities.
OK then.
The White House declined to make Barbabella available for an interview.
Oh, really?
But don’t worry, there is another doctor available to speak on the record:
“As a clinician, you look for clues in people, even if they’re not your patient, and he is just with it on some fairly complex topics,” Mehmet Oz, a physician who serves as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in an interview with the Journal. Oz hasn’t provided medical care to Trump.
“I can’t even think of a single time where he said something where I don’t think he understands the issue here,” said Oz, who has frequently attended events with Trump. “He may want you to do something that is, you know, is arguable whether it’s the right path to go, but it’s a very rational approach to it.”
Do you smell something? I do.
Finally:
Trump said he hasn’t made changes to his diet. In a podcast interview in October, Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters described being shocked by Trump’s eating habits when they traveled together during the campaign. While flying to a campaign event, according to Gruters, Trump consumed french fries, a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburger, a Big Mac and a Filet-O-Fish.
Trump said he had plenty of energy, which he credited to his parents, who he said were energetic until their old age.
“Genetics are very important,” he said. “And I have very good genetics.”
Whatever you say.
I want to add that Ursula Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness is a fantastic book and well worth reading.
I’ll end with this: