A cardiac expert has warned he is “seriously concerned” about President Donald Trump’s health after watching his “manic” address to the nation.
Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a medical analyst for CNN who served as the late Vice President Dick Cheney’s cardiologist for over 30 years, posted a series of alarmed statements on X as Trump delivered his accelerated address.
Trump sped through the 18-minute address, often taking an angry tone, and occasionally shouting the words he was reading off a teleprompter.
“The pace of this address is manic,” Reiner wrote, noting that the tone of the speech also did not match the Christmas decorations displayed behind Trump.
The president squeezed in a brief festive greeting at the end, without cracking a smile.
“I’m seriously concerned about the health of the president,” Reiner said of the 79-year-old, adding that, “No one should be happy to see the president like this. He looks unwell.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Trump’s health has been an ongoing concern this year, from his bruised hand to nodding off in Cabinet meetings.
Earlier this month, Reiner fact-checked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt when she announced that Trump’s second health check in a year included a “preventative MRI” to examine his heart and abdomen.
“Well, there really is no preventative cardiac MRI,” Reiner said.
“This is not a standard test for an 80-year-old man to undergo advanced imaging,” Reiner continued, saying the White House’s messaging had a “weird and defensive, evasive tone” to it.
He also pointed out that “preventative” abdominal imaging was especially peculiar.
“This obviously was performed in response to some clinical concern, which is fine. Things happen to people as we all get older, and the president is almost 80,” said Reiner, who is a professor of medicine at George Washington University in D.C. “So, instead of this kind of evasive, almost laughable kind of note, just spell out what happened.
“I hope the imaging is normal and great; that would be excellent news,” Reiner added. “But this kind of piece-by-piece, drip-by-drip release of information is just concerning.”
The breakneck pace and loud volume of Trump’s speech was also discussed on CNN’s NewsNight on Wednesday.
One theory is that CBS factored in a maximum 22-minute presidential interruption for Trump’s speech as part of the three-hour Survivor finale, which is always a ratings hit.
“He was loud, he was forceful, he was fast,” author and journalist Terry Moran said of Trump.
“The networks only gave him 15 minutes, supposedly. And that is a problem for him because he likes to ramble, he likes to improvise, and he sounded like a man shouting at the nation that entire time.”
Moran said while Trump listed off “great things” he had done for the economy, “the facts of people’s own lives will refute you.”
“I thought that was a huge mistake,” Moran said. “People think this economy is very bad for them personally and he’s shouting at them.”
CNN political analyst and co-host on The View Ana Navarro said the speech was “18 minutes of their lives” people would never get back.
“It was an angry old man shouting from the hills, shouting at the kids to get off their lawn,” Navarro said.
She said, “He interrupted the finale of Survivor, which has 4.5 million viewers. There’s a lot of Survivor fans for this old man to come and scream about how everything is great.”
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