Trump’s advanced age and threats to his life serve as reminders of his own mortality

By Kevin Liptak, CNN

US President Donald Trump rides in his motorcade as he departs after a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on 26 May, 2026.

As President Donald Trump departed the hospital Tafter his physical exam, he declared on his way back to the White House that everything had checked out "PERFECTLY."

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."