Early in Donald Trump’s news conference Tuesday, Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked a question that surely baffled people who avoided social media for Labor Day.
“How did you find out over the weekend that you were dead?” Doocy said to the president.
Doocy was referring to speculation about Trump’s health that spread online during the long Labor Day weekend, fueled in part by the president’s relative absence from the public for several days. The incident has renewed — for a different president — questions about how journalists should handle the sensitive issue of how healthy an aging leader of the free world actually is.
Trump said he was more active than had been apparent publicly and criticized the media. “It’s fake news — it’s so fake,” he said. “That’s why the media has so little credibility.”
It’s a familiar issue with the news media and two aging presidents
A year ago, President Joe Biden, now 82, abandoned his reelection effort after a halting, confused performance in a debate with Trump provoked concerns about his ability to serve another four-year term. Journalists who covered the White House faced attacks for not doing enough to investigate Biden’s health and condition.
Trump, who turned 79 in June, is the oldest person to be inaugurated as president. Pictures showing him with bruises on his hands and apparent swelling in his legs circulated online recently, as did clips of misstatements in public, such as mistakenly referring to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last month as “Kristi.”
None of these is evidence of serious illness.
The White House has said Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, which means veins in the legs can’t properly carry blood back to the heart, causing it to pool in the lower legs. It’s a fairly common condition for older adults.
As far as the bruising, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it’s from “frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin,” which Trump takes regularly to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. Easy bruising in general could have several relatively benign causes, including old age or side effects from medications like blood thinners.
