It was an off-the-cuff moment, but the Guardian reports that when President Donald Trump revealed that Rep. Neal Dunn (R-Fla.) would have been “dead by June” if not for White House doctors, many were shocked by his disclosure.
The Guardian reports Trump let slip the comments during “a meandering presser” with House speaker Mike Johnson, and Johnson’s response suggested he was taken aback by the reveal.
“OK, that wasn’t public, but yeah, OK. It was grim, that’s what I was going to say,” said Johnson.
But while Trump delights in discussing the health issues of others and in making fun of their physical conditions, the Guardian says Trump has “intense caginess about his own health, including a recent neck rash.”
Of course, that’s not what you will hear from his staff.
“Unlike the Biden White House, President Trump and his entire team have been fully open and transparent about the President’s health, which remains exceptional. President Trump coordinated the TRUTH post about (advisor) Susie Wiles’ (cancer diagnosis) with her and she approved it,” claimed White House spokesperson Olivia Wales. “… President Trump’s sharpness, unmatched energy, and historic accessibility stand in stark contrast to what we saw during the past four years when failing news outlets like the Guardian intentionally covered up Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people.”
But critics note the extreme silence following Trump’s unexpected cognition tests, and his slack face a few months ago, which often hallmarks the aftermath of an undisclosed stroke.
Regardless, Brittany Martinez, a Republican strategist and executive director of Principles First, said Trump’s disclosure about Dunn was “pointless.”
“I think it’s just inappropriate for a president of the United States to essentially out the healthcare diagnosis of a member of Congress. “… The president has said much worse. Of course, I do think that this is pretty abhorrent but no, I think he’ll get zero pushback, essentially, on this.”
Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic strategist, said this kind of behavior is “pretty much the story in Trumpland.”
“It does lower the bar,” added Sheinkopf. “People in public life are supposed to be much more reflective of their behavior. They’re supposed to be models for appropriateness and for integrity and decency, and that decency is defined by how they deal with others. When that changes, at some point, it becomes funny, but then after a while, it becomes not so funny, it becomes dangerous and it allows for behaviors that should not be tolerated, to be tolerated.”
