Chatter about Donald Trump’s health has gotten too much for him.
In a lengthy spiral on Truth Social, the 79-year-old president begged the public to stop discussing his fitness for office and claimed that doing so could be “seditious, perhaps even treasonous.”
“After all of the work I have done with Medical Exams, Cognitive Exams, and everything else, I actually believe it’s seditious, perhaps even treasonous, for The New York Times, and others, to consistently do FAKE reports in order to libel and demean ‘THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,’” Trump said in a nearly 500-word post that listed a series of exaggerated claims he argued were evidence he is mentally and physically up to the job.
The president’s outburst came after a report by Zeteo that he was left fuming as a growing wave of coverage from publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN, scrutinized signs of his apparent deteriorating health—all of them following the lead of the Daily Beast, which has been cataloging his growing frailty for months before others stopped ignoring it.
Trump lashed out at the Times, calling its reporters “true Enemies of the People.”
“And we should do something about it,” he went on. “The best thing that could happen to this Country would be if The New York Times would cease publication because they are a horrible, biased, and untruthful ‘source’ of information.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the Times for comment.
The president’s rant came amid heightened concerns over his health. Last week, footage of him appearing to fight off sleep during a Cabinet meeting led to a string of reports comparing him to his predecessor Joe Biden, whom he famously dubbed “Sleepy Joe” and mocked for his old age.
Trump has faced increased scrutiny for displaying many of the same signs of physical and cognitive slippage he once ridiculed Biden for. Media coverage, in turn, has picked up on this, fueling concerns about his fitness for the presidency.
Reports have documented Trump dozing off during Oval Office and Cabinet meetings, drifting off mid-sentence, and appearing with persistent bruising on his right hand. His swollen ankles have also raised concerns.
Trump has used heavy concealer to hide the bruising, which he has not publicly explained, although the White House said in a July medical report that he was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a condition in which leg veins have difficulty pushing blood back to the heart.
The president has been sporting mysterious bandages on his problematic right hand for the past week, with the White House declining to say why they are needed.
Last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that Trump “is a man of the people and he meets more Americans and shakes their hands on a daily basis than any other President in history.”
She added: “His commitment is unwavering and he proves that every single day.”
Trump bragged he “aced” cognitive exams “on three separate occasions, the last one being recently.”
“I ACED all three of them in front of large numbers of doctors and experts, most of whom I do not know,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post. “I have been told that few people have been able to ‘ace’ this examination and, in fact, most do very poorly, which is why many other Presidents have decided not to take it at all.”
The president added: “I will know when I am ‘slowing up’ but it’s not now!”
The post Trump, 79, Insists It’s Treason to Talk About His Health Issues appeared first on The Daily Beast.
