When President Donald Trump’s doctors release a summary of the physical exam he is scheduled to undergo Tuesday, the document is almost certain to conclude he remains in excellent health, if his previous assessments offer any indication.
But that is likely to do little to quiet questions about Trump’s health. And even the president himself has begun making tacit acknowledgement of his own mortality — albeit often in the context of security — as he reflects periodically on his limited time left on Earth and wonders aloud whether he would make it into heaven.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be around,” he mused during an event in the East Room earlier this year. “I have a lot of people gunning for me.”
Trump’s visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center will be the third time he’s visited the facility for a medical exam since becoming the oldest president ever inaugurated last year. The White House said the check-up would include “routine annual dental and medical assessments,” despite him having already visited a dentist in Florida twice this year.
Trump and his team eagerly describe him as a leader with boundless energy and unmatched acuity, shrugging off his visible signs of age and the moments when he appears to doze off during meetings. But even the rosy appraisals offered by his physician after frequent exams have done little to dampen questions about Trump’s health. Presidents are not legally obligated to release anything about their health, so everything they do disclose is by choice. Several presidents before Trump were found afterward to have concealed medical issues in office.
