Conspiracy theorists have begun to swirl rumors that President Donald Trump’s health is fading — but recent official White House medical records released in April directly contradict the claims that Trump is experiencing cognitive or physical decline.
Trump “exhibits excellent cognitive and physical health and is fully fit” following the president’s annual physical examination at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, White House physician Captain Sean Barbabella said in April.
The comprehensive three-page medical report found that “President Trump remains in excellent health, exhibiting robust cardiac, pulmonary, neurological and general physical function.”
Trump’s medical team acknowledged in June that the president, aged 78, has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI). He is receiving treatment for the minor medical condition.
The president regularly undergoes testing including cognitive assessments for mental function. Barbabella reported in April that Trump’s neurological exam “revealed no abnormalities in his mental status.”
“I took a cognitive test. And I don’t know what to tell you, other than I got every answer right,” Trump told reporters at the time. “I took just a lot of different tests, having to do with the heart, having to do with other things.”
That hasn’t stopped the conspiracy theories, which have gone viral over claims that Trump is going to collapse soon.
John Gartner, a former assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, has claimed that Trump shows signs of cognitive decline.
“What we see are the classic signs of dementia, which is gross deterioration from someone’s baseline and function,” Gartner claimed. He suggested that Trump’s communication style has deteriorated since the 1980s, saying “If you go back and look at film from the 1980s, [Trump] actually was extremely articulate. He was still a jerk, but he was able to express himself in polished paragraphs, and now he really has trouble completing a thought and that is a huge deterioration.”
“I predicted before the election that he would probably fall off the cliff before the end of his term. And at the rate he is deteriorating, you know … we’ll see. But the point is that it’s going to get worse. That’s my prediction,” Garter claimed, a statement that has gone viral in liberal circles.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has made claims about Trump’s physical condition, arguing he has witnessed “a lot of signs of Trump declining.”
Jones pointed to what he described as the president’s “extremely swollen ankles,” claiming Trump frequently “sounds like he’s drunk” and remains “unconscious” for extended periods throughout the day.
“He’s on a lot of the time, but like a light bulb is starting to go out. It gets brighter. It gets dim. It goes in and out,” Jones said. Referring to photographs, he continued: “That’s not a good sign for the heart and the rest of the body, because the rest of him, he’s lost weight, he’s not that fat. For everybody that you’ve known that’s having heart problems, that’s not good right there. Okay? And they’re getting bigger and bigger. I would say, I don’t say, I know, we have a crisis.”
“I predict Trump is going to have some type of collapse within the next 12 months of the current trajectory,” Jones said. “If he doesn’t take his foot off the gas pedal, I guarantee it.”
However, the official medical report contradicts these claims with documented evidence.
The Walter Reed examination revealed that Trump has lost 20 pounds since 2020, now weighing 224 pounds, and his LDL cholesterol levels are in the “optimal” range. He is taking two cholesterol medications, rosuvastatin and ezetimibe, and all his vaccines are current.
The medical report noted only minor abnormalities. Trump has “scarring on the right ear” from the gunshot wound sustained during the July assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, though Barbabella confirmed his “hearing was normal.”
Former White House physician and current Texas Representative Ronny Jackson, who served as Trump’s doctor from 2013 to 2018, has also moved to debunk the far-Left conspiracy theories.
“As President Trump’s former personal physician, former Physician to the President, and White House physician for 14 years across three administrations, I can tell you unequivocally: President Donald J. Trump is the healthiest president this nation has ever seen,” Jackson said. “I continue to consult with his current physician and medical team at the White House and still spend significant time with the President. He is mentally and physically sharper than ever before.”
The White House medical report noted that Trump’s days are filled with meetings, public appearances, press conferences and “frequent victories in golf events.” At 78, Trump is the oldest president to take the oath of office, though former President Joe Biden was only slightly younger when he began his term.
Presidents are not required to share medical information, and many have kept their health records private. In contrast to Trump’s comprehensive medical disclosure, Biden’s doctors chose not to give him a cognitive examination during his final year in office.