Trump Faces Realities of Aging and Signs of Dementia

Remember how the Felon raged about Joe Biden being too old for office and claimed Biden suffered from dementia in the run up to the 2024 elections?  He called Biden "sleepy Joe".  Now, back in office himself, the Felon increasingly appears to be dozing off during meetings and at some public events.  As for speaking in coherent sentences, this has never been the Felon's strong suit as he speaks at about an eighth grade  level or less, but his incoherence has increased.  For someone incredibly vain and self-impressed, it's a touch subject and the Felon had a fit over a piece in the New York Times that focused on his physical and mental failings. The reality is that even the best of us start losing some of our level of energy and strength as we move into our 70's and at 79, the Felon is definitely no exception and the signs of aging and declining mental acuity are showing.  Here are highlights from the piece in the New York Times that sent the Felon raging:

The day before Halloween, President Trump landed at Joint Base Andrews after spending nearly a week in Japan and South Korea. He was then whisked to the White House, where he passed out candy to trick-or-treaters. Allies crowed over the [Felon's] president’s stamina: “This man has been nonstop for DAYS!” one wrote online.

A week later, [the Felon] Mr. Trump appeared to doze off during an event in the Oval Office.

With headline-grabbing posts on social media, combative interactions with reporters and speeches full of partisan red meat, Mr. Trump can project round-the-clock energy, virility and physical stamina. . . . . The reality is more complicated: [the Felon] Mr. Trump, 79, is the oldest person to be elected to the presidency, and he is aging. To pre-empt any criticism about his age, he often compares himself to President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who at 82 was the oldest person to hold the office, and whose aides took measures to shield his growing frailty from the public, including by tightly managing his appearances.

[N]early a year into his second term, Americans see [the Felon] Mr. Trump less than they used to, according to a New York Times analysis of his schedule. Mr. Trump has fewer public events on his schedule and is traveling domestically much less than he did by this point during his first year in office, in 2017, although he is taking more foreign trips.

He also keeps a shorter public schedule than he used to. Most of his public appearances fall between noon and 5 p.m., on average.

And when he is in public, occasionally, his battery shows signs of wear. During an Oval Office event that began around noon on Nov. 6, Mr. Trump sat behind his desk for about 20 minutes as executives standing around him talked about weight-loss drugs.

At one point, Mr. Trump’s eyelids drooped until his eyes were almost closed, and he appeared to doze on and off for several seconds. At another point, he opened his eyes and looked toward a line of journalists watching him. He stood up only after a guest who was standing near him fainted and collapsed.

Mr. Trump has prompted additional questions about his health by sharing news about medical procedures he has had, but not details about them. While in Asia, Mr. Trump revealed that he had undergone magnetic resonance imaging at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in early October.

“I have no idea what they analyzed,” Mr. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One recently after he was again asked about his M.R.I. “But whatever they analyzed, they analyzed it well, and they said that I had as good a result as they’ve ever seen.”

[The Felon] Mr. Trump also applies makeup to a bruise on the back of his right hand, adding speculation about a medical condition that his physician and aides say is caused by taking aspirin and shaking so many hands. In September, the bruising on his hand, coupled with swollen ankles, caused observers on the internet to speculate wildly about his health. . . . After this article published, Mr. Trump called it a “hit piece” in a post on social media.

For years, concerns and questions about Mr. Trump’s health have often been met with obfuscation or minimal explanation from the people around him. Mr. Trump’s physicians have not taken questions from reporters in years, including when he was seriously ill with Covid in 2020. There were no medical briefings held after an assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pa., last summer.

Many of the facts that concerned critics about Mr. Trump’s physical health during his first term are present now. He does not get regular exercise, in part because he has a long-held theory that people are born with a finite amount of energy and that vigorous activity can deplete that reserve, like a battery. He enjoys red meat and is known to eat McDonald’s by the sackful.

According to his physician, however, he has lost weight. In 2020, Mr. Trump tipped the scales at 244 pounds, a weight formally deemed obese for his 6-foot-3 frame.

The number of Mr. Trump’s total official appearances has decreased by 39 percent. In 2017, Mr. Trump held 1,688 official events between Jan. 20 and Nov. 25 of that year. For that same time period this year, Mr. Trump has appeared in 1,029 official events.

Mr. Trump has long rambled in his speeches; during his 2024 campaign and in his second term, the meandering has often been noticeable. He can veer off script to share stories that are sometimes riddled with untruths, such as his false claim that his uncle, John Trump, had taught the domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski at M.I.T.

Presidents, in general, try to paint the best picture possible of their health. Matthew Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University, said that Mr. Trump was following examples set by his predecessors, including his most recent one.

“The people around him are similar to Biden’s aides,” Mr. Dallek said. “They would talk as if we’re living in a little bit of a fantasy world. Trump, in that way, with the help of his aides and his doctors have created this fiction about his health to hide the hard, cold truth that he is 79 and one of the oldest people to ever occupy the Oval Office.”

Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman, who served as a White House physician from 2000 to 2013 and wrote a book about presidential health care, said that [the Felon's] Mr. Trump’s schedule contrasts with those held by George W. Bush, who was 54 when he took office, and Barack Obama, who was 47. Both built exercise into their daily schedules; Mr. Bush was in the Oval Office by 6:45 a.m. every day, Dr. Kuhlman said, and Mr. Obama would arrive by 10 a.m., though his days often went later, until 7 p.m. or so, when he would meet his family for dinner.

“They show him as effective,” Dr. Kuhlman said of Mr. Trump’s aides, “but every time he’s in the Oval Office, he’s sedentary.”

Dr. Kuhlman added that it is “commendable” that, at his age, Mr. Trump still boards Air Force One using a long flight of stairs, “but you don’t know what he does as soon as he walks in the door.”

With his approval rating falling among voters and more Americans reporting dissatisfaction with the economy, Mr. Trump’s allies have urged him to direct his focus back to domestic affairs. The president’s aides say they expect him to do more travel through the United States ahead of the midterms, but Mr. Trump is also considering a trip to Davos, Switzerland, to attend a conference alongside global leaders and corporate titans in the winter.

It will likely be years before we learn the full truth about the Felon's failing health and mental cognition.