# What's the deal with Trumps hand sores? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [January 18, 2024, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-hand-sores/996277 "2024-01-18T16:20:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-hand-sores/996277/1 "2024-01-18T16:20:38Z")
So Twitter is abuzz with these obvious red sores on Trump’s hands: [![](https://www.meidastouch.com/.image/t_share/MjAzNzAzMDc0NDQ1ODYyODAy/trump-syphilis.png) ](https://www.meidastouch.com/.image/t_share/MjAzNzAzMDc0NDQ1ODYyODAy/trump-syphilis.png) I agree they are clearly sores of some kind, not cuts. But also not convinced by James Carville’s “they must be syphilis” explanation. Mainly as AFAIK that is pretty treatable nowadays even with all the antibiotic resistance around. Is secondary syphilis still common in people who have the best medical care money can buy? (though I guess the best medical care money can buy isn’t much good if the patient refuses to get or take the treatment) > What do the assembled dopers think? Especially the medical ones, do sores like that on a patient’s hands immediately suggest syphilis to you? (this is in politics, as its Trump, but if IMHO might be better suited?) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-hand-sores/996277/2 "2024-01-18T16:22:56Z")
Mentioned by somebody else in one of these threads, but I’m going with “put his bare hand on a metal railing in subzero Iowa weather”. This is a man who stares directly at eclipses, remember. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-hand-sores/996277/3 "2024-01-18T16:24:07Z")
I heard somewhere that he might have touched some frozen surface without gloves while in sub-zero Iowa. (I thought “the clap” meant gonorrhea?) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-hand-sores/996277/4 "2024-01-18T16:26:20Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > (I thought “the clap” meant gonorrhea?) Usually, yes. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-hand-sores/996277/5 "2024-01-18T16:28:45Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Mentioned by somebody else in one of these threads, but I’m going with “put his bare hand on a metal railing in subzero Iowa weather”. Hmmm I guess. Though doesn’t look like that to me. IANA doctor though. Did the secret service have to pee on them to get them free 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-hand-sores/996277/6 "2024-01-18T16:37:55Z")
I’m gonna suggest he got a lot of very bad paper cuts feverishly feeding top secret documents into a toilet. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-hand-sores/996277/7 "2024-01-18T16:39:13Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Though doesn’t look like that to me. IANA doctor though. I’m not a doctor, but I do swing swords a lot, and we spend a lot of time thinking about grips and what-not. Those marks do kind of align with the spots where you’d put the most pressure when trying to grip something kind of round-ish. So, it’s kind of plausible to me. What’s surprising is that he’d be waving this hand around like that. I’d have thought his narcissism would have made him keep his deformity hidden. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-hand-sores/996277/8 "2024-01-18T16:39:25Z")
Moderating: > [@griffin1977](#): > > Did the secret service have to pee on them to get them free 🙂 > [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’m gonna suggest he got a lot of very bad paper cuts feverishly feeding top secret documents into a toilet. If you’re just going to turn this thread into a Pit-style effort, we can move it there. Stay on topic, please. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-hand-sores/996277/9 "2024-01-18T16:39:28Z")
Did someone double-dog dare him? And are we sure it isn’t a fake picture? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-hand-sores/996277/10 "2024-01-18T16:42:14Z")
That looks more like smeared blood than sores. My guess is that he was bleeding somewhere, rubbed hismhand on it, and didn’t realize it. Like he had an itchy scratch or pimple and ripped the skin and bled on his hand, and didn’t notice it. Or he had a recent nosebleed and didn’t notice the blood on his hand when it stopped. Or it could be the blood of his last sacrificial victim. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-hand-sores/996277/11 "2024-01-18T16:43:34Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Or it could be the blood of his last sacrificial victim. Impossible, he licks himself clean after eating them, surely. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-hand-sores/996277/12 "2024-01-18T16:47:09Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > That looks more like smeared blood than sores. My guess is that he was bleeding somewhere, rubbed hismhand on it, and didn’t realize it. You know, I think you might be onto something. It could even be ink. Maybe he decided to mix it up and use a red Sharpie. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-hand-sores/996277/13 "2024-01-18T16:47:33Z")
Moderating: As this topic has devolved into only Pit-like responses, it is closed. @griffin1977, let me know if you’d like it reopened in the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-trumps-hand-sores/996277/14 "2024-01-18T16:47:42Z")