President Donald Trump, the oldest incumbent to start a second term in the Oval Office till now, is headed for the first physical of his new term on Friday at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

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Even though the 2024 presidential campaign was dominated by the talk of health issues and age of both the contestants, Trump has never been very forthcoming about his health information, even as he kept targeting his rival Joe Biden, calling him ‘Sleepy Joe’.

Trump and Biden were the two oldest major-party candidates in US presidential election history, and Biden had to eventually drop out from the race over concerns about his mental acuity.

However, before the Friday physical, Trump announced on social media nonchalantly, “I have never felt better, but nevertheless, these things must be done!”
Trump is the oldest president to start a second term in office at 78, and turns 79 in June. 
The US president’s annual physical is to reassure Americans about the health of their commander-in-chief. 

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Is Trump really as healthy as his doctors have claimed?

In 2015, when Trump first ran for office, his then-personal doctor, Harold Bornstein, said his lab results were “astonishingly excellent” and that he would be the “healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency”. Later on, Bornstein admitted that Trump had dictated it to him, says an NPR report.
Trump’s first physical in the White House in 2018 witnessed a flattering report from Dr. Ronny Jackson, who extolled the former’s “great genes” for his good health. 
In the cognitive exam, Trump had then reportedly scored a 30 out of 30. 

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“I told the president that if he had had a healthier diet over the last 20 years, he might live to be 200 years old,” Dr Jackson said in the briefing.

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S. Jay Olshansky, a professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois Chicago, who has studied the health of presidents, told NPR, “The medical records are private. Presidents do not have to reveal their medical records.”
Ahead of the presidential run, in 2023, Trump released a doctor’s brief letter sans data and just saying “his cognitive exams were exceptional.”
Well, no one is questioning his cognitive capabilities given the hara-kiri that he has caused with his tariff decisions, leading to mayhem in the equity and bond markets.

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How healthy is Trump?

The president is a known golfer but has never been seen engaging in any other forms of exercise regularly.
He is also said to have a special liking for McDonald’s and Diet Cokes.
Trump had a coronavirus infection in Oct. 2020 and was flown to Walter Reed aboard Marine One for a hospital stay then.
Presidents are not required to release the report publicly, but it has been a practice for decades. Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella is serving as Trump’s personal doctor.

Have US presidents been truthful about their health? 

Biden’s doctors had decided not to give him a cognitive exam, and the White House defended that decision.
John F. Kennedy denied he had Addison’s disease, among other health ailments.
When Woodrow Wilson had a stroke, his wife and doctor covered for him, noted Jeff Kuhlman, who was a physician during the terms of Bill Clinton, George Bush, and Barack Obama.
“They covered up for him for several months, and they were not truthful with the American people,” Kuhlman said.

Whether an honest feedback of Trump's health will be shared with the public is a different question altogether.

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