Donald Trump Celebrates President Joe Biden’s 81st Birthday with Physician’s Letter Asserting Excellent Health
In a show of goodwill, Republican front-runner Donald Trump commemorated President Joe Biden’s 81st birthday by sharing a letter from his physician affirming the former president’s outstanding physical and mental condition. However, the letter, which was posted on Trump’s social media platform, lacked specific details to substantiate its claims, such as weight, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, or test results.
Dr. Bruce A. Aronwald, a New Jersey physician who has been Trump’s doctor since 2021 and recently examined him in September, stated in the letter that Trump’s physical exams fell within the normal range, while his cognitive exams were exceptional. Aronwald also mentioned that Trump’s most recent lab results showed even more favorable outcomes than previous tests, attributing this improvement to weight loss achieved through a healthier diet and regular exercise.
Consequently, the doctor concluded that the 77-year-old former president is presently in excellent health and will continue to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle for years to come. This report becomes significant as age becomes a crucial factor in the upcoming 2024 election, which might witness a rematch between Trump and Biden, the country’s oldest president.
Although Trump is not significantly younger than Biden, polls consistently indicate that Americans perceive age as a greater liability for the president. An August poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research revealed that 77% of U.S. adults, including 69% of Democrats, consider Biden too old to effectively serve another four years. In contrast, only 51% of adults, and merely 28% of Republicans, held the same opinion about Trump.
Trump’s rivals have attempted to highlight his age by drawing attention to recent mistakes, such as confusing the city and state he was campaigning in. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, one of Trump’s rivals, remarked on CNN Sunday that the presidency is not a suitable position for an individual approaching 80 years old, portraying himself as someone in the prime of his life.
Assertions about Trump’s vitality from his doctors have become a genre of their own. During his first campaign for the Republican nomination in late December 2015, Trump’s campaign released a laudatory letter from the late Dr. Harold N. Bornstein, asserting that Trump, a well-known fast-food enthusiast who avoided intense physical exercise, would be unequivocally the healthiest individual ever elected president. Bornstein later confessed that Trump had dictated the letter himself, describing it as “black humor” and admitting to composing it in just five minutes while a limo sent by the then-candidate waited outside his office.
While in the White House, Trump’s doctors provided a more comprehensive picture of his health through annual physicals that included detailed figures and test results. For example, his physical in 2019 revealed that he was officially classified as obese, and the 2018 examination disclosed a common form of heart disease. Nonetheless, former White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson delivered a glowing report during a lengthy press conference, praising Trump’s “incredible genes” and jokingly suggesting that with a healthier diet in the previous two decades, he could live to be 200 years old. Jackson also stated that Trump had performed exceptionally well on a surprise cognitive screening test designed to detect early signs of memory loss and other mild cognitive impairments, a fact Trump frequently boasts about.
As of now, Dr. Aronwald has not responded to a message left at his office.
