A bruised Donald Trump has bragged that he could live to the age of 200—if only he quit junk food.
As the conflict in the Middle East escalates, the 79-year-old president headlined a ceremony for the U.S. Naval Academy football team on Friday, where he talked up his increasingly costly war with Iran, slammed Democratic presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, and boasted about his administration cracking down on press freedom.
But partway through his speech, the president, still sporting a bruise on his hand, invoked disgraced former White House physician Ronny Jackson to make the wild claim that he’s the “healthiest” U.S. president in recent history.
Acknowledging Jackson as one of the guests, Trump recalled a time when the press asked the doctor-turned-congressman who was the healthiest of the three presidents Jackson worked for: George W. Bush, Barack Obama, or Trump.
“He said. ‘President Donald J Trump by far. If he didn’t eat junk food, he’d live to 200 years old,’” Trump claimed. “And I love this guy.”
Jackson joined the White House Medical Unit in 2006 under Bush, who was 59 at the time. He served as physician to Obama from 2013 to 2018 before Trump nominated him to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs in his first term.
It was then that Jackson’s many scandals came to light, with nearly two dozen current and former White House medical staff accusing him of drinking on the job, over-prescribing opioids, and creating a hostile work environment.
Trump’s latest health brag came as he presented the Commander-in-Chief trophy to the U.S. Navy Midshipmen football team of the United States Naval Academy.
The football team won the annual competition between the Navy, Air Force, and Army teams—the three major service academies.
Declaring he had “much more power in my second term,” Trump also signed an executive order to ensure the second Saturday in December is preserved exclusively for the broadcasting of the Army-Navy football game.
“Not Ohio State against Notre Dame. Not LSU against Alabama. Nobody is going to play,” he said.
But the aging president was captured on camera, looking strained, as he slowly took his seat to sign the executive order.
His bruised right hand, concealed partly with makeup, was on display as he stood next to the podium as Naval Academy football coach Brian Newberry spoke.
The bruising was also visible the night before, when Trump hosted a dinner for Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Trump has had persistent bruising on his hand for more than a year, something that the White House often claims is the result of constant handshaking and Trump’s daily high dosage of aspirin.
He has also been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), a common circulatory condition in older adults that can cause leg swelling.
Doctors have told the Daily Beast that Trump could prevent his condition from worsening with better sleep, exercise, and weight loss.
“It’s all a vicious cycle” for CVI patients, said Dr. Sanjiv Lakhanpal, founder of the Center for Vein Restoration. “If they don’t get a good amount of rest at night, they don’t want to exercise in the morning.”
The president, however, tends to rage-tweet well into the night. Earlier this year, he also admitted to the New York Times he “probably” should be on “the fat drug.”
But his penchant for junk food is well known, with Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr once saying of his “unhinged” eating habits: “The interesting thing about the president is that he eats really bad food, which is McDonald’s, and, you know, candy and Diet Coke. He drinks the Diet Coke at all times.”
But, RFK Jr added: “He has the constitution of a deity. I don’t know how he’s alive, but he is.”
