Not a political discussion - just a medical question:
Given Trump’s age - 74 - and his propensity for eating a lot of red meat, fast food, fried food, etc., and his lack of exercise, and great deal of traveling as a president (which must put a lot of ‘wear and tear’ on his body,) and probably poor sleeping habits - how come he has not been struck with a heart attack or colon cancer by now?
Is he physically better or worse than the average 74-year old American?
Physically?
Or Mentally?
He didn’t drink or do drugs in his younger years. Always had access to the best healthcare available. Had a lot of sex. He didn’t really gain weight until he was older which isn’t necessarily bad unless its obsessive, which it really isn’t. I think is fast food intake is over hyped.
And the fact that he didn’t suffer that badly from Covid19 kind of bears all if that out.
The OP specifically mentioned eating, exercise, travel, sleep. Isn’t it obvious that the question is about physical health, and NOT mental health?
All the information we have about Trump’s health comes to us through political filters, so I’m not sure if the question can be answered non-politically.
Because he universe used to like him.
Seriously, as people get older, their chances of things going wrong increase, but it’s not a guarantee. When people behave unhealthily, their chances of things going wrong increase, but it’s not a guarantee. It’s almost like roll dice every year, with a 5% chance of failure, maybe 10% if you’re unhealthy.
Lung cancer rates, even for people who smoke, are not that high. There are lots of living, elderly smokers. Of course, they are at a far higher risk than non-smokers.
It would be nice if I could find all the numbers in one place. I’ve read that being a smoker increases your risk by 6 to 9 times, so the likelihood of non-smokers getting cancer has to be substantially lower.
Large amounts of stress can cause one to age more quickly. His life has had very little of that. Anything he should have to worry about, he can pay other people to worry about instead.
The US does have the best healthcare for those who can afford it, and I am certain that he is able to afford the best.
And malignant narcissists outsource their stress to those around them–they themselves sail through life supremely convinced they are the center of the universe and the epitome of awesomeness and the constant lack of competence of those around them and their failure to perform their roles adequately is pretty much the only source of stress they experience. Existential dread, depression and anxiety is not part of the narcissist profile.
As a young person, he was a fairly gifted athlete. As an adult, he did not partake of drink or drugs. I would say that he is in good health and that much of it is due to fortunate genetics.
He also fits into a pet theory of mine that there are some leaders who make it to advance ages seemingly in possession of their physical and mental capacities, and that corresponds to their leadership qualities in a genetic sense. As much as it seems awful to say it, some people are demonstrably built better.
Being flown in a comfortable private jet outfitted with anything he could want puts wear and tear on his body? Even US time zone changes would be trivial, considering how short a time he stays.
Since this requires speculation, let’s move it to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
In other words, he’s completely hollow, amoral and soulless.
Well yeah, that’s pretty on brand for every malignant narcissist.
Exactly this. An increased risk =/= dead-lock guarantee of developing an issue.
My parents are elderly (dad is 86, mom is 80); they have both smoked since they were in their teens. While they’ve both quit smoking from time to time (sometimes for a couple of years at a stretch), it’s safe to call them lifelong smokers. And, while both of them have had health issues (including cancer), the one thing that neither of them have ever had an issue with is their lungs – no lung cancer, no COPD, no asthma, etc.
My WAG regarding Trump is that he has pretty good genes, and may not have a genetic predisposition to issues with blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc. As noted above, while he’s sedentary, is now overweight (though he wasn’t overweight as a younger person), and appears to have a fatty diet, all signs point to him not being a drinker nor a smoker, and AFAIK, there’s no evidence of any ongoing usage of recreational drugs.
Whatever is causing his physical movement symptoms is where I’d be concerned - his inability to hold his glass without using two hands, his weirdly shuffling walk down the ramp, etc. Those look a lot like slight transient ischemic brain attacks aka mini-strokes or vascular (multi-infarct) dementia effects. Those tend to continue to occur, and as they do, more and more areas of the brain are permanently destroyed with resultant physical and mental deterioration.
But since we have no access to his medical records, who knows?
We don’t know the health of Trump, just what Trump releases and Trump does not have a reputation of telling the truth, and also a reputation of hiding personal affairs (sexual, financial and health), his statements about never drinking are in question because of this and his late night tweets often seem like a drunken rant . He is a self imposed black box, which I hope he gets stuck there in his own self imposed black box, but I diverge.
I have noticed some out of breath and lateness on Trump’s part even when traveling with others, Trump seemed late while the others he was just with are looking around for him.
The Living Stingy blog suggests he is suffering from diabetes, which can have mental effects if untreated:
Like it or not, he is entitled to his medical privacy. The 25th Amendment allows him to be removed by the Cabinet and Vice President, so only they need to know such details.
Previous presidents with health problems lied about them too. Trump lied too, in his typical over-the-top “I think voters are too dumb to see through this BS” fashion. Trump has lied about far more important things that are actually our business, so we should focus on that very long list.
IMO, access to the best healthcare available is extremely overrated, and likely a non-factor in cases like this.
Access to the best healthcare available is relevant to people who are not in good health and the best healthcare available might make a difference in what type of treatment they have for their issues. But if someone is in good health and doesn’t have any serious issues altogether, that would not be because they had access to good healthcare. That would be the result of genetics, lifestyle, and luck.
This is laughably untrue.
The stories of Trump’s past (and current) drug use are epic. He’s a long time stimulant abuser, from coke to speed to Adderall. And while alcohol isn’t his drug of choice, and there’s no indication of alcohol abuse, there is documented evidence of him having drinks. The teetotaler story is another of his lies that a lot of people just swallowed without question, for some reason.
As for how he’s escaped COVID damage, well, it helps that he’s got a medical facility in his house, and was whisked away to WR at the first sign of trouble and given experimental drugs and the best care available.
And speaking of WR, there’s the matter of his secret visit last year that was explained away as “the first part of his physical”. The gait changes, slurred speech and arm issues he’s had since would point to some sort of heart or neurological issue that spurred that visit. So no, I don’t believe he’s healthy, at all. I think his health has been carefully managed and the truth of his conditions has been withheld.
I don’t think that’s true. In NPR’s reporting discussing his risk factors for COVID after he tested positive, they stated Trump was considered obese.