'Trump is out of order': a video with the president made Americans doubt his health

Dr. James Meritigas, a certified neurologist and clinical professor of neuropsychiatry, drew attention to the fact that US President Donald Trump has problems with movements when the American leader descended the metal ramp, and it got on the video, writes Independent.

Photo: Shutterstock

At about 23:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 13, the President of the United States (or an employee with access to his Twitter account) found it necessary to explain to his 82 million subscribers why it was difficult for him to go down the metal ramp on the same day.

The hashtag #TrumpIsNotWell was trending on Twitter throughout the evening, accompanied by a video of Donald Trump speaking at the US Military Academy commencement ceremony. The footage clearly shows the president taking small, hesitant and unsteady steps as he walks down the ramp next to Lt. Gen. Darryl Williams, the academy's chief of staff.

According to the president himself, his unusual gait was a reaction to the ramp, which was “very long and steep” (in fact it was not), “had no handrails” and “most importantly, was very slippery” (the weather in West Point, New York, was sunny and dry). He also claimed to have "run the last ten feet" of the ramp, although the video shows Trump taking only a few normal confident steps at the end of the ramp rather than running down.

Photo: twitter.com/realDonaldTrump

But if the president thought that his explanation of the events would put an end to this issue, he was mistaken. The video and hashtag #TrumpIsNotWell continues to appear on social networks, and the health status of the oldest person during the first term of president in American history remains an unresolved issue, while he is running for re-election.

Trump's physical condition has been the subject of speculation since he announced his desire to run for the Republican Party in the 2016 elections, and this assumption was reinforced by a series of hyperbolic, often meaningless statements by his own doctors.

While most presidential candidates will publish medical records or detailed reports after medical examinations, Trump's only concession to this tradition was a one-page statement from his then doctor, New York gastroenterologist Dr. Harold Bornstein, who later admitted that his note was completely dictated by Trump himself.

In it, he “unequivocally stated” that Trump would be “the healthiest person ever to be elected president”, and claimed that “Trump’s medical tests yielded only positive results” (which is not always good in medical tests).

Trump was able to turn this data into an advantage during his campaign by spreading speculation about health his then rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

But his own health has been a topic of discussion since Trump took office. And the June 13 video is just the latest in a series of incidents that have raised questions about whether the president is okay.

Dr. James Mercurygas, a graduate neurologist and clinical professor of neuropsychiatry at George Washington University School of Medicine, said he immediately noticed Trump's uncertain movements when he saw the recording.

“He has problems with balance and posture,” Merikangas stated and emphasized that he had long noticed problems with the way Trump behaves during public speaking.

“When the president sits in a chair, he does not lean against the back - he always leans forward with his legs apart. This is an unnatural position - usually people who have neurological problems do this, although I can’t say exactly what they are,” Merikangas continued. “And his problem with walking balance is something that happens to people who have some kind of degenerative problem with the brain, usually in the frontal lobes... The way he walked was certainly suspicious.”

Although Meritigas refused to specify the diagnosis, as this requires a physical examination and tests. Therefore, he said that if Trump was his friend, family member or colleague, he would advise him to see a doctor and do an MRI or PET scan.

“I've had a lot of older neurologists and psychiatrists in my practice who have come up to me and said, 'Hey Jim, if you notice anything strange about me, please let me know. I don’t want to treat patients if I myself have problems,” he admitted.

The June 13th video was just the last of a series of recordings that showed that the president was obviously not all right. Several times he contradicted his previous statements, forgot or confused similar-sounding words (for example, oranges instead of origins), and Trump often sniffs and breathes heavily during performances. The efforts of doctors trying to figure this out often did more harm than good to the president himself or to his own reputation.

On the subject: They hid ice cream and secretly gave cauliflower: how they tried to accustom Trump to a healthy diet

Many in the Trump administration consider catastrophe a briefing marathon in January 2018 on the results of the annual Trump survey, conducted by the then presidential physician Dr. Ronnie Jackson. Jackson, Rear Admiral of the Fleet, was a respected physician who also treated President Barack Obama and his family. During this briefing, he said that Trump “has all the prerequisites to pass the presidency without serious medical problems” because of his “incredible genes”, despite the fact that one examination showed that Trump has a heart condition.

The president tried to reward Jackson (he is now running for Republican seats in the House of Representatives) with the nomination of the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs, although the attempt failed due to questions about his treatment methods and nature. His successor, Dr. Sean Conley, fell into disgrace because of the president’s alleged use of hydroxychloroquine as a prophylactic against COVID-19 (despite the lack of evidence that the drug was effective: the FDA recently revoked permission to use it) and its vague explanation Trump's unplanned visit to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in November 2019.

Although the White House has repeatedly denied that the trip was for some kind of emergency, administration officials have yet to explain why the visit was so urgent, without notifying local law enforcement agencies that usually paved the way for the president; why did the president travel with a motorcade and not in a helicopter; or why Conley went with the president instead of meeting him already in the hospital.

Meritigas, a former naval officer, noted that Conley has a relatively low rank compared to his predecessors. He argued that Conley's low rank made him more vulnerable to pressure from Trump, who, as commander in chief, could theoretically order Conley to lie about presidential health.

But Dr. William Lang, the former director of the White House Medical Unit and former deputy physician for presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, said Conley had enough qualifications for his current position.

Lang said he was always told the truth when he asked about the president's health because "bad news doesn't get better with age" and "the truth will still come out." There is nothing, he said, that would cause a presidential doctor to lie, and nothing that a military officer would lie about.

But Anthony Scaramucci, a former White House communications director who has known Trump for years, believes the only way Conley can last in his job is for him to do what the president and his staff want and say what they want him to say. mouth.

“There is no doubt that Conley will be fired if he refuses any such requests,” he added. Although Scaramucci believes that White House communications staff will structure the speech so that Conley's false statement does not look like an outright lie.

On the subject: Trump's personal doctor: the president is healthy, but it will not hurt to lose weight

The director of the University of Virginia's Policy Center, Larry Sabato, suggested that it didn't matter if Conley or the others were lying, because no one would believe anyone connected to Trump.

“The public skepticism associated with Donald Trump is as great as what Lyndon Johnson experienced over Vietnam. After a while, you just don’t believe what he says,” Sabato said, adding that a person has a better chance of learning the truth by rejecting everything Trump or his advisers say because much of it is inaccurate.

But regardless of whether voters believe Trump or not, Wilson predicted that the full report on the health problems of the 45th president would eventually be released.

“I can imagine: when all this is over, we will find out that he had certain health problems, and because of them our eyes will pop out of our heads,” he concluded.

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