Sunday is Donald Trump's 80th birthday. The only other US president to have reached that milestone in office was the last one: Joseph Robinette Biden. And everyone remembers how that turned out. Like his predecessor, Trump has developed an unfortunate habit of nodding off at public events. On Monday night, he appeared to fall asleep briefly while watching a National Basketball Finals game in Madison Square Garden, New York. He did the same a few days earlier during an Oval Office session entitled 'Beautiful Clean Coal'. So is the old Commander-in-Chief now fossilising before our eyes — as Biden did? Trump barely needs any rest, famously, and his team turns angry at any suggestion that the dear leader's superhuman energy levels might be waning. 'He was blinking, you absolute moron,' snapped the official White House response unit at a reporter on social media, after Trump again let photographers catch his eyelids closing during a 'Maternal Health Event' on May 11. But these extended-blink incidents keep happening, which means the 'Don Snoreleone' jokes aren't going away. On Memorial Day, May 25, the President struggled to remain awake as he sat listening to a speech by Pete Hegseth, his Secretary of War. Trump himself has felt compelled to address the shut-eye issue. He has claimed that he finds it 'relaxing' to let his eyelids shut from time to time. Donald Trump has an unfortunate habit of nodding off at public events - much like his predecesso Trump having a lengthy blink in December last year. In January, after another Cabinet meeting in which he was accused of falling asleep, he said: 'Look, it got pretty boring,' he said. 'I closed them because I wanted to get the hell outta here'In January, after another Cabinet meeting in which he was accused of falling asleep, he said: 'Look, it got pretty boring,' he said. 'I closed them because I wanted to get the hell outta here.' But, as one Trump world insider admits, 'He does seem to be falling asleep a little more than usual. Something does seem a bit different but it is difficult to say precisely what.' What's obvious is that being President is arduous enough for a man half Trump's age. And as the Iran war he started refuses to stop, inflation rises, and his popularity falls in polls, amid countless other stresses, the normally indefatigable President is beginning to show signs of exhaustion. And this week, The New York Times published a highly detailed report about his administration's mishandling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Trump finds the story exasperating – another Democratic 'hoax' – yet it is increasingly clear that, behind closed doors, his frantic attempts to brush over his past association with the world's most famous late sex criminal have taken a toll. We're meant to be living through the so-called 'strong man' era of modern politics. But what's funny is that the world's most powerful men also tend to be very old. Russia's Vladimir Putin is 73, China's Xi Jinping is 72, and Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu is 76. Inevitably, all these leaders have to deal with rumours of their imminent demise. Donald Trump seems particularly sensitive to such stories, which is why he always boasts about his health after any medical appointment. 'Everything checked out PERFECTLY,' he announced on social media following his last examination at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, three weeks ago. Concerns were raised after Trump's hand appeared with a large bruise in April last year, which the President blamed aspirin on But as David Axelrod, the Democratic strategist, famously warned Joe Biden in the run up to the last presidential election: 'The age arrow only points in one direction.' No reasonable observer would say that Trump is in as bad shape as Biden was during his last (and only) four years in charge. But, like any octogenarian, Trump is showing signs of physical and mental decline. His hands are prone to bruising and his legs and ankles are swollen, as any number of photographs have proved. Trump's physician, Sean Barbabella, has confirmed that the president suffers from chronic venous insufficiency – 'a benign and common condition, particularly in individuals over 70'. The Democrats, who are still furious about the way Trump and his staff tormented Biden over his evident senility, take malicious pleasure from these indications of frailty in the man they hate. House Democrat Jamie Raskin called Trump a 'deranged, mentally unstable authoritarian' and introduced a bill to create a commission for examining the President's fitness for office. In reply, the White House accused both men of being 'a stupid person's idea of a smart person.' Between May 27 and June 3, a whisper went around Washington that Trump was 'hiding' having suffered a 'mini-stroke'. The idea was based on no evidence – Trump had in fact played golf, given numerous interviews, and even hosted a Cabinet meeting around that time. The White House categorised the claims as 'false and slanderous'. Roger Stone, the long-term Trump adviser who in recent weeks has been helping the administration make key appointments, says: 'I've known Trump for 50 years. He is as mentally sharp as he was when I met him in 1979. 'His prowess on the golf course and his daily stamina plus the fact he has released both medical and cognitive tests beyond what other Presidents have released prove that he is healthier than your average 80 year old.' Yet the risk for Trump's allies is that they end up protesting too much — and sounding similar to Biden's advisers who would often breathlessly tell journalists about the old man's acuity as Father Time inevitably takes his toll. Trump has never been a smoker or a drinker – he abstained from a young age on the advice of his brother, who died aged 42 from alcohol abuse – and he has shown an unnatural ability to work throughout a life that would have killed most mere mortals through stress. He has survived two divorces, various company bankruptcies, a tumultuous political career, several assassination attempts and legal prosecutions. But in recent months he has repeatedly lost his temper in public. On June 7, he stormed out of an interview with NBC, saying 'I've had enough', after a reporter asked him to provide evidence for his claims that California's elections were rigged. His social media posts about the Iran conflict have often sounded utterly demented. 'Open the F*****' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell,' he told the Iranians in April. To celebrate his birthday tomorrow, Trump will, Roman-emperor style, watch younger men batter each other to pieces in a specially constructed cage outside the White House. The Ultimate Fighting Championship contest is officially part of the festivities for the 250th anniversary of America and various celebrities are expected to attend, including Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and the British film director Guy Ritchie. But everybody knows that the spectacle has really been put on for the amusement of the Commander-in-Chief. The Donald likes to be entertained. The worry is that, if the violence on the canvas isn't sufficiently thrilling, the elderly President might fall asleep again.