Trump heads to physical, highlighting concerns over 78-year-old’s health
The annual physical for the U.S. president is typically a routine event to reassure Americans about the health of their commander-in-chief. However, such occasions have rarely been routine under Donald Trump.
Trump on Friday undergoes his first check-up since retaking office, with a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center — an event that puts the spotlight on the well-being of a 78-year-old president long reluctant about sharing details on his health, News.Az reports citing Gulf news.
Trump seized on voter anxiety over his predecessor’s sharpness and vigor while the Republican’s team shared little about his own health, even after he survived an assassin’s bullet that grazed his ear.
Trump in January became the oldest president ever sworn into office — a record he previously held during his first term that Biden then took upon his inauguration in 2021.
The president is a fervent golfer, but he is not known to engage regularly in other forms of exercise. He is also a famed consumer of fast food, in particular McDonald’s and Diet Cokes. His health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is undertaking a massive overhaul of public health that has taken aim at soda, candy and ultraprocessed foods.
Trump’s had health scares in the past, including a coronavirus infection in Oct. 2020 that saw him flown to Walter Reed aboard Marine One for a hospital stay. He has embarked on a second stint in a notoriously stressful job, in which past officeholders often visibly age at the White House.
Friday’s visit caps a whirlwind week that saw Trump impose higher tariffs on select countries, delivering on one of his signature economic policy pledges, only to dramatically reverse course hours later following turmoil in equity and bond markets.
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