US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting at the White House AFP News

Donald Trump, 79, has spent his second presidency insisting he is in perfect health, yet he has also been strangely fixated on his own mortality and prospects in the afterlife. This contradiction has fuelled online speculation for months.

Now, the president has finally admitted to reporters that his recent, mysterious visit to Walter Reed medical centre included an MRI scan, an examination far outside a ‘routine’ physical.

What Is Donald Trump Hiding About His Health?

Speaking on board Air Force One, President Donald Trump finally provided a reason for his second medical examination this year. He had previously dodged questions about the visit, telling reporters to ‘ask the doctors’ why he went to the medical facility.

This time, he was declarative, if not detailed. ‘I did. I got an MRI. It was perfect,’ he bragged, in yet another assertion of his perfect health.

‘I gave you the full results,’ he continued. ‘We had an MRI, and the machine, you know, the whole thing, and it was perfect.’ The White House has not stated what part of the president’s body was scanned or the reason for the test.

The ‘Very Weird’ Visit That Has Critics Questioning Donald Trump

The president’s admission has only thrown fuel on the fire of online speculation. Harry Sisson, a left-wing influencer, branded the comments as ‘very weird.’

‘WOAH: Trump just accidentally let it slip that he got an MRI scan at Walter Reed recently,’ Sisson wrote on X. ‘His team claimed his visit was for a regular physical but MRI scans are not done at a routine physical. They’re for diagnosing serious conditions. Very weird…’

The president’s team has not yet clarified why the MRI was needed during what they had described as a regular physical.

‘Best Reports Ever Seen’: Donald Trump Brags Amid Afterlife Fixation

Despite the concern, Donald Trump continued to brag about his health while on the presidential plane, claiming that doctors said he has ‘some of the best reports they’ve ever seen.’

‘I think they gave you a very conclusive – nobody has ever given you reports like I gave you,’ he said. ‘And if I didn’t think it was going to be good, either, I would let you know negatively, I wouldn’t run. I’d do something. But the doctor said some of the best reports for the age, some of the best reports they’ve ever seen.’

This bravado stands in stark contrast to the president’s other recent comments. During his second presidency, Trump has repeatedly and bizarrely questioned his own chances of getting into Heaven and regularly talks about going on to the afterlife.

He has openly conceded that he has doubts about whether he will see the pearly gates.

‘I think I’m not maybe heaven-bound,’ he told reporters on Air Force One on October 13. Trump also said that he does not think ‘there’s anything going to get me in heaven.’

This fixation on mortality is paired with other physical health controversies. The president has often been seen with heavy, mysterious bruising on the back of his hand, which is frequently smudged or appears concealed with make-up.

While Trump’s physician, Dr Sam Barbabella, said that the bruising was caused by the president shaking people’s hands throughout the day and from taking aspirin, the explanation has not satisfied critics.

Tsident was also publicly diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a non-life-threatening condition which prevents blood flowing easily from the legs to the heart and often causes patients to suffer from swollen ankles.

  • DaddleDew@lemmy.world
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    24 days ago

    If “it was perfect” is even only a half truth, what there is to read in this is “the MRI didn’t find the cause of the problem I had it done to look for”

      • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        Honestly, I dread this day for the political fallout, lavish wake, and who knows whatever “dear leader” horseshit we’ll be forced to endure. That said, I’m still counting the hours.

  • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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    23 days ago

    I have had more MRIs that the average person I’m guessing. Probably around a dozen over the last 20 years. They have all been to try and diagnose soft tissue injuries or conditions. Never once have I been given a preventative MRI, they’ve always been targeted because that’s just the nature of MRIs.

    Trump didn’t pull some muscle doing strenuous activities. I’m guessing brain or chest, neither something you want needing a scan at 79 years old.

    • lennybird@lemmy.world
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      23 days ago

      In fairness the US healthcare system does prioritize rich people. You can get preventative MRI scans if willing to pay.

      The question is, did any other US President have preventative MRIs done? I’ve never heard.

      I was thinking how it could be the next step in preventative medicine if as part of one’s annual physical that not just bloodwork but a full-body MRI could be granted in a universal health care system.

      Imagine what that could do in stopping issues before they snowballed, and the value for medical studies…

    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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      24 days ago

      He watched a football game and saw someone had to get an MRI, thus he now thinks he had an MRI and also plays for the Los Angeles Chargers

      • Catma@lemmy.world
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        24 days ago

        1 he would never play for an LA team

        2 he would likely not play for an AFC team. This man is 100% rooted in the 80s/90s mentality. If anything he would play for an NFC East team as most of them won a superbowl during those decades. So the Dallas Cowboys, the New York Football Giants, or the Washington Redskins( now the commanders). Unlikely he wants anything to do with the Philadelphia Eagles.

        3 i put way to much thought into this…

        • Oxysis/Oxy@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          24 days ago

          It’d be the Cowboys, they are the only team in the NFC who is garbage enough to want him. The Giants should have a bright future ahead of them with Dart under center. The Commies don’t need to get even older, they are already ancient. The Eagles don’t need a talentless hack right now when they are already struggling. And the Cowboys are just a perennial joke since their dynasty so he’ll be welcome there.

        • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
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          23 days ago

          Yeah, soon we’ll be hearing confabulation about how one of those teams tried to get him to play for them, tears in their eyes, calling him Sir, but he had bigger plans even then.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    24 days ago

    Wonder where all the dickheads that spent years speculating about Hillary being at death’s door and Biden “campaigning from his basement” and similar concern-trolling are now?

    • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
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      23 days ago

      They’re still around. If not for Trump, they’re shilling for some other asshole or piling onto some other character-assassination campaign.

    • crusa187@lemmy.ml
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      23 days ago

      Hillary stole the nom from Bernie, it wasn’t about her age it was her blatant corruption people disliked.

      Biden was so far gone he was shaking hands with invisible people on stage in the middle of his term.

      It’s not a team sport. If things are going to improve you need to be objective and factual.

    • sleepundertheleaves@infosec.pub
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      23 days ago

      Concern trolling? Biden had stage 4 cancer and most likely some form of dementia, both of which he covered up until he left office. The FBI literally chose not to prosecute him over mishandling classified documents as VP because he wasn’t mentally competent to stand trial. He was the lowest energy president in my lifetime.

      Hell, the man disappeared from the public eye for weeks at a time and the complicit media never said a word about it. Trump goes 24 hours without a shitpost on “Truth” “Social” and people start spreading rumors of his death.

      It wasn’t concern trolling to say that Biden was a sick old man who shouldn’t run for a second term - it was recognizing reality. I’m just happy his handlers are finally let the poor man rest.

      Don’t mistake this as any kind of approval for Trump, except a sort of horrified admiration of the amount of energy it takes to shitpost until 3:00 a.m. every single day. It’s simply recognition that Trump’s second term is a direct result of Biden’s failure in office, and the obvious historical fact that his declining health played a role in that failure.

      • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
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        23 days ago

        The FBI literally chose not to prosecute him over mishandling classified documents as VP because he wasn’t mentally competent to stand trial.

        That’s nonsense

        Here’s the exact text of the report:

        https://www.justice.gov/storage/report-from-special-counsel-robert-k-hur-february-2024.pdf

        The Executive summary says that they declined to prosecute because “the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”

        There was no questioning his mental competency anywhere in the report.

        • sleepundertheleaves@infosec.pub
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          23 days ago

          https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-special-counsel-robert-hur-transcript-reviewed/

          The special counsel said he didn’t think a jury would convict Biden because they’d see him as “a well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory”.

          Here’s a direct quote from the executive summary of that report:

          In addition. Mr. Biden’s memory was significantly limited, both during his recorded interviews with the ghostwriter in 2017, and in his interview with our office in 2023. And his cooperation with our investigation, including by reporting to the government that the Afghanistan documents were in his Delaware garage, will likely convince some jurors that he made an innocent mistake, rather than acting willfully-that is, with intent to break the law-as the statute requires.

          That is, one of the reasons the special counsel didn’t think he could establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt is that Biden’s memory was so bad - even in 2017, four years before he became President - that it would be reasonable to assume he accidentally forgot where he put classified documents.

          I’ve never worked with classified documents, but I work with PII belonging to my employer, and the day I forget where I keep that information is the day I fucking retire. Or get fired. But apparently the standards are lower for the most highly classified information in the world than they are for personal customer data.

          Look. In 2024, Donald Trump was sharp and competent enough that a jury could, in theory, find him liable for deliberately mishandling classified documents, and if I recall correctly the FBI was still trying to do so when Trump was elected.

          In 2024, according to the special counsel, Biden wasn’t. And hadn’t been for years.

          You can draw your own conclusions. The rest of America already did.

          Jesus fucking Christ, can we stop putting demented old men in charge of the most powerful nation on Earth?

      • Smeagol666@crazypeople.online
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        23 days ago

        And just like Hilary and the DNC gave us Drumpf the first time, Kamalama-Ding-Dong and the DNC gave us this second round of hell.

  • ripcord@lemmy.world
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    23 days ago

    God, do you remember how in The West Wing, how the biggest scandal, the thing that nearly broke up his administration, was that the president didn’t reveal info about his health during the campaign?

    Can you even imagine with this admin, holy fucking shit

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        23 days ago

        It’s always sunny does veep. The west wing is America as we envisioned ourselves once, but it only works when we all try to be our best and follow decorum and actually want the country to be better.

        If you’re different or a democrat the republican party hates you and wants you to suffer. They will accept less success in exchange for your pain. There is no west wing liberal fantasy with that as one of the parties, just the gang ruining the time of everyone around them.

  • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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    24 days ago

    I’m no longer worried about anything about this health … he’s freakin old, senile and stupid … and I’ve known that for years

    I’m more worried about the general mental health of the United States that allows this stupidity to continue.

  • Asafum@feddit.nl
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    24 days ago

    The only thing I’d take issue with is the statement that MRIs are only for serious issues. I had a pain in my toe and the podiatrist wanted me to get an MRI. Nothing serious there lol so much so that my oh so wonderful insurance company denied the request even though the podiatrist said an ultrasound wouldn’t show him anything useful…

    I wouldn’t get my hopes up, this is Trump, and we live in the absolute shit timeline. Trump is going to be dictator “president” until he’s 115…

    • foodandart@lemmy.zip
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      24 days ago

      Naah, the dementia that Fred Trump had is already hitting Don.

      Hence the MRI - they’re likely looking for the plaques or lesions that form in Alzheimer’s patents.

      Some forms of dementia can also change the actual structure of the brain, so they could have been looking at that.

      Dementia is inheritable so Don’s likely worried, and to the fact he desn’t sleep, only adds to the risk.

      Delightful, no?

      • Asafum@feddit.nl
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        24 days ago

        Dementia is hard enough to deal with as a family member struggling with an unruly, unwilling sufferer. I can’t even imagine what this narcissistic blowhard is going to force us all to deal with during his decline. :/

        • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
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          24 days ago

          Plus, he has confirmed that he knows that he’ll never get into heaven, so he’s not even going to try to be a good person. I think his first term was him trying.

          • snooggums@piefed.world
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            24 days ago

            He was just as shitty in his first term but there were still people around to tell him and the people pulling his strings ‘no’ to stuff like bombing random boats or being mask off fascist. It was just hidden a little better back then.

      • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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        24 days ago

        standard MRI can’t see plaques, and there is no correlation between plaques and dementia in elderly.

      • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
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        23 days ago

        and to the fact he desn’t sleep, only adds to the risk

        Sleep disturbances are often an early symptom of dementia. But old farts tend to sleep less anyway, due to neurotransmitter depletion, so it’s a matter of degree.

    • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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      24 days ago

      Yeah. MRIs are actually a very useful tool even for preventative medicine. Very minimal long term health impact (almost nothing compared to an x-ray) with the main drawback being cost. And you can find a lot of issues before they become dangerous.

      It makes 100% that (fucking hell…) the most powerful person in the US would have regular MRIs “just in case”. Especially at that age. But it is just another in a long line of indicators that he/The White House have serious concerns about his health that they are speeding through all of this.

      • Frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        24 days ago

        To really drive it home, we could cure cancer with MRIs, at least on paper. Give everyone a full body scan once a year. It’ll find every little cancer so it can be taken care of when it’s early and easy.

        Can’t do this for two reasons. There isn’t enough MRI capacity to possibly do it. Even if there was, MRIs will pick out every little thing, and there isn’t enough doctor capacity to investigate every little thing.

    • J92@lemmy.world
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      23 days ago

      You don’t want several mood altering ones. You just want one gigantic, face-sloping, mind-mulching one.