President Donald Trump has reportedly been angered by mounting media coverage examining his cognitive and physical condition, with White House insiders revealing the 79-year-old spends days fixating on reports that draw comparisons to his predecessor Joe Biden.
The issue intensified this week after footage emerged showing Trump appearing to fall asleep during a Cabinet meeting, prompting a fresh wave of coverage from major outlets including The New York Times andThe Washington Post. Sources familiar with internal White House discussions told news outlet Zeteo that the president’s anger over health-related reporting rivals only his fury about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, making it one of the issues that most infuriates him.
‘Sensitive’ to Biden Comparisons
A Trump adviser close to the president stated that he remains deeply ‘sensitive to being compared, even if not explicitly, to Sleepy Joe’, particularly when such coverage originates from journalists he already dislikes. The irony has not been lost on critics, given Trump’s relentless mockery of Biden’s age and mental acuity throughout both the 2020 and 2024 campaigns, where he famously dubbed his rival ‘Sleepy Joe’ and questioned his fitness for office.
‘Trump will fixate on the offending news outlet or coverage for several days’, Zeteo reported, citing sources both inside and outside the administration. One Trump adviser who discussed the matter with him dismissed the coverage, telling Zeteo that the mainstream press is back on ‘this bulls—t again’ about his health and mental fitness.
Incidents Fuelling Scrutiny
The scrutiny follows multiple documented incidents raising questions about Trump’s condition. Reports have catalogued the president dozing off during Oval Office and Cabinet meetings, drifting off mid-sentence during public appearances, and displaying persistent bruising on his right hand that he has attempted to conceal with makeup.
AFP published an opinion piece this week headlined ‘Sleepy Don? Trump’s Health Under Fresh Scrutiny’, whilst The Daily Beast ran coverage titled ‘How Sleepy Trump, 79, Became the D.C. Sequel Nobody Wanted to See’. Such headlines have reportedly sent Trump into multi-day spirals of anger and obsession over the coverage.
In one notable incident on 29 September, Trump incorrectly remembered when his first presidential term began during a joint White House press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding to concerns about potential cognitive slippage. The White House has repeatedly pointed to a 17 July medical report diagnosing Trump with chronic venous insufficiency, describing it as a ‘benign and common condition’.
White House Pushes Back on Narratives
In a statement to The Daily Beast, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt vigorously defended Trump’s condition, insisting: ‘As the president’s physician, Dr Sean Barbabella, has made clear time and again—and as the American people see with their own eyes every single day—President Trump remains in excellent overall health.’
Leavitt added: ‘President Trump’s relentless work ethic, unmatched energy, and historic accessibility stand in sharp contrast to what we saw during the past four years when the failing legacy media intentionally covered up Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people. Pushing these fake and desperate narratives now about President Trump is why Americans’ trust in the media just fell to a new all-time low.’
The statement represents the administration’s official counter-narrative as it pushes back against growing scrutiny of the president’s health, which shows no signs of abating.
Originally published on IBTimes UK
