Trump's health records spark debate as election nears

Donald Trump‚ whos 78 years old‚ might become the oldest person to be chosen as president in US history if he wins the election next month. But hes not sharing new info about his health‚ which is different from what other candidates have done for many years.

Weʼve only got a few bits of information about Trumps health in the last year. After he survived someone trying to kill him in July‚ Texas Rep Ronny Jackson (who really likes Trump and used to be his doctor in the White House) wrote something about Trump getting shot in the right ear. Also‚ in November last year‚ Trumps personal doctor‚ Bruce Aronwald‚ wrote a letter saying Trump was in “excellent“ health and did “exceptional“ on brain tests. He also said Trumps heart tests were fine‚ cancer tests were negative‚ and Trump had lost some weight.

But these reports dont answer important questions about Trumps health: like his blood pressure‚ exact weight or if hes still taking medicine for high cholesterol – or even what tests he had done. His team hasnt said if Trump has any diseases or if he got help for his mental health after someone tried to kill him.

This is giving his political enemies‚ like Kamala Harris‚ a chance to ask questions about his age and if he can do the job of being president when hes in his 80s.

Are they afraid that people will see that he is too weak and unstable to lead America?

Trumps doctors have always been unclear about his health‚ like when his team at the White House first said his COVID-19 hospital stay in 2020 wasnt that bad.

To show shes different from Trump‚ Harris shared a letter from her doctor on 10/12/2024 that gave a lot more details about her health history. It said she doesnt have any heart‚ lung or brain problems‚ has a low chance of getting heart disease‚ and is up-to-date on cancer tests. She takes medicine for allergies and hives‚ wears contacts‚ and had her appendix taken out when she was 3. The letter didnt say how much she weighs‚ but it said the 59-year-old vice president is in “excellent health“ and has the “physical and mental resiliency“ needed to be president.

But its not clear if age will be a big deal for voters. Polls showed that people were much less worried about Trumps mental and physical health than they were about Joe Bidens when he was still running. Since Harris replaced Biden‚ Trumps advantage on this issue has gotten smaller.

This is kind of funny for Trump‚ who spent years attacking the 81-year-old Biden saying he was too old and weak to be president. After Biden did really badly in a debate in June‚ other Democrats started saying the same things‚ which made Biden decide to stop running and support Harris instead.

Candidates dont have to share their health info. But people running for president usually do it anyway because the job is so hard‚ especially if theres worry about how old they are.

In 2008 John McCain‚ who was running for president shared more than 1‚000 pages of medical records for people to look at. He would have been the oldest president elected for a first term at 72. When people were worried about his age in 2019‚ Biden (who was 77 then) shared a three-page note from his doctor.

The last full report on Trumps health was in 2019‚ when he was still president. That check-up said he was obese – he weighed 243 pounds and had a body mass index of 30.4‚ which makes it more likely to get heart disease‚ diabetes and other problems. The report also said he was taking more medicine for high cholesterol. Trump doesnt drink alcohol or smoke‚ but he doesnt exercise much except for golf and he loves fast food.

As for his family health history‚ his dad had Alzheimerʼs disease when he was older‚ which could be a risk for Trump.

People who support Trump say his busy public life shows hes not getting weaker. Trump plays golf a lot and is active at social events. He answers questions from reporters way more often than Harris does. He often talks for more than 90 minutes at his rallies‚ standing the whole time and often not using the teleprompter.

But when Trump appears in public‚ he often rambles. He regularly mixes up timelines‚ events and people.

Trump has confused Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi. He got the location of a big military base wrong. He mistakenly said that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was the leader of Turkey.

Trump often talks about questions about his age and health when hes in public. On 10/13/2024 in Arizona‚ Trump made fun of critics who say hes “cognitively impaired“ because he “mispronounced a word.“

Without more info‚ looking at how long the average American man lives shows Trump has about a 79% chance of living through a four-year term‚ said aging researcher S. Jay Olshansky from the University of Illinois at Chicago‚ who studies presidential health and thinks candidates should share their medical records. The younger Harris has a nearly 97% chance of living through a first term in office‚ he said.

When it comes to being president‚ “its not about age‚ its about function‚“ Olshansky warned