'Good chance this man has the clap': Dem strategist weighs in on photo of Trump hand sores

After a photo circulated of what appears to be lesions on former President Donald Trump's hands, a frenzy of speculation has consumed the internet. One top Democratic strategist thinks the sores are evidence of the 45th president of the United States having a sexually transmitted disease.

In a video posted to YouTube, James Carville — who was a top adviser for President Bill Clinton's first campaign — said he first saw the photo of the red splotches on Trump's hands published by the British gossip outlet Daily Mail, and remarked on how he disagreed with the assessment that they were "hand cuts."

"They don't look like 'cuts; to me, they look like sores," Carville said. "I've asked a number of MDs what medical condition manifests through hand sores, and the answer is immediate and unanimous: Secondary syphilis."

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"There's a good chance this man has the clap," he continued.

Carville is correct in that various medical experts agree that hand sores are a symptom of syphilis. The Minnesota Department of Health said secondary syphilis has a "characteristic rash" that "may appear as rough, red, or reddish brown spots both on the palms of the hands and the bottoms of the feet." Planned Parenthood has a similar description of secondary syphilis, and says the sores — also known as "chancres" — look like "rashes on the palms of your hands, soles of your feet, or other parts of your body."

The Democratic strategist's suggestion that Trump may have "the clap" is a reference to gonorrhea, which also can produce sores on the hands. Dermatology website DermNet says gonorrhea may affect the skin, writing that gonococcal infection rashes can affect "the trunk, limbs, palms and soles, and usually spare the face, scalp and mouth," with types of lesions including "microabscesses, macules, papules, pustules and vesicles."

Suggestions that the former president may have an STD may not be too much of a stretch, given his sexual proclivities. Adult film star Stormy Daniels admitted to having an affair with Trump in the late 2000s in which they had unprotected sex. Former Trump "fixer" Michael Cohen admitted to paying Daniels — whose real name is Stephanie Clifford — $130,000 in "hush money" to keep her from going public prior to the 2016 election.

READ MORE: How Trump's own DOJ laid out his guilt in the Stormy Daniels payoff