Tom Leonard: Donald Trump’s enemies wishfully think he can make a Big Mac without having a heart attack. What on earth does a hamburger addict whose only exercise is riding a golf buggy and who only sleeps five hours a night, enough to stay fit even at 78 years old, do?

In 2015, fledgling presidential candidate Donald Trump had his doctor dictate a letter to him stating that if elected, he would be “the healthiest person ever elected to office.”

Since then, his adversaries have mocked his bare cheeks (the letter also says he has “extraordinary physical strength and stamina”) and has led a diet of fast food and Diet Coke. There’s no way a man this age and his exercise habits (or lack thereof) can be healthy.

There may be a fair amount of wishful thinking in his critics’ claims that the new U.S. president only needs one more Big Mac to have a heart attack, but it’s nonetheless true for years. It has been constantly debated.

What’s going on under the strategically oversized suit can’t be good, they chorus, no matter what helpful doctors say.

His wife is also reportedly worried. Last November, first lady Melania Trump and President Trump’s nominee for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., urged President Trump to eat healthier, including lean protein, salads and vegetables instead of fast food. It was claimed that he was “cooperating” with the

Two former Trump aides testified that Trump’s typical McDonald’s order was two stomach-churning Big Macs, two Filet-O-Fish and a chocolate milkshake. Total 2,430 calories.

Still, if there’s one area in which President Trump continues to defy naysayers, it’s his health, and perhaps more important to the “leader of the free world,” his physical fitness.

Indeed, Mr. Trump has benefited from comparisons to Joe Biden, now 82 years old, but Mr. Biden’s declining mental and physical functioning remained surprisingly hidden for years. was.

But during last year’s campaign, Mr. Trump was so confident in his abilities that when writing about “X” in October, he praised Kamala Harris, 18 years his junior, as having “cognitive stamina and agility.” I challenged them to take the test. That’s because her supporters said so. “Slow and lethargic in answering even the simplest questions.”

On Monday, at 78 years and 220 days old, he became the oldest president ever to take office, beating Biden, who was five months younger when he was sworn in four years ago. One of his first acts was to reinstall a button on the Oval Office desk that automatically requested a glass of Diet Coke.

He didn’t do a backflip during his swearing-in, as Biden did, but he also didn’t hobble along as his wife and aides watched like hawks for signs of collapse.

And while Uncle Joe couldn’t even be trusted to ask for the time if the question wasn’t written on a teleprompter, Trump still prefers to speak out loud. There was a script and later there was no script. In terms of his fluency and clarity, there was little to choose between.

And that day was a marathon day for him. He attended morning church services, had tea with Mr. Biden at the White House, spoke for 30 minutes at the swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol, gave a longer speech after taking office, attended a lunch in Congress, and served in the military. and gave another speech. He spoke at the indoor presidential parade and signed numerous executive orders in the Oval Office.

He then attended three inaugural balls, where he gave another 10-minute speech, talked to South Korean troops on a video feed, cut a cake with a saber, and danced with Melania (three times). He was tasked with such duties.

And he still had enough energy to repeat his signature fist-pump dance at the YMCA by the Village People (who had live music at the second ball he attended). I had it.

Even his fiercest critics can’t deny that that’s not a bad thing for the 78-year-old (and, keep in mind, he died last July after being shot in the ear by an assassin. Within seconds he stood up and defiantly punched the air).

Corey Lewandowski, who ran Trump’s 2016 campaign, said Trump “had the concentration of a professional athlete, working 14, 16, 18 hours a day without eating.” I went there,” he recalled.

what is his secret? Trump himself certainly has some ideas, though not necessarily shared by experts. First, Trump, whose older brother Fred died from alcoholism, said he had never drank, smoked or used drugs.

He is not in the best of health, sleeps only four to five hours a night, and considers golf his “main form of exercise.” Still, he doesn’t walk between holes, instead using a golf cart.

Trump has promoted this physical activity by promoting the bizarre theory (popular among Victorians, but hardly true today) that the body is like a battery that stores a finite amount of energy. I justified my lack of self-confidence. Exercising drains your battery and you’re actually hurting yourself.

What else is involved? Scientists say genes play a role in health and longevity.

President Trump’s property developer father, Fred, lived to be 93, and his mother, Mary Ann, the daughter of a farmer on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, lived in poverty to the age of 88.

And as the son of a wealthy man, Trump has undoubtedly had the benefit of the best medical care throughout his life.

Despite claims to the contrary, critics have recently said there is evidence that President Trump’s mental and physical abilities are declining.

In October, the New York Times, one of his most vocal critics, analyzed his speeches and found that recently he appeared “disorganized, forgetful, incoherent, or disconnected from reality.” concluded.

However, some may point out that there are no major changes. President Trump has consistently made gaffes, including in 2019 when he claimed that rebels “took over the airport” from the British military during the American Revolutionary War in the 1770s.

Opponents also point to President Trump’s reluctance to release medical records. U.S. presidential candidates are not required to release their medical information, and even though polls show many voters are concerned about Trump’s aging, He is more cautious than Biden when it comes to disclosure.

In 2018, while he was president, the White House doctor released a letter regarding his health, saying experts showed he was borderline obese and suffering from heart disease.

Over the next two years, doctors revealed he had gained just under 17.5 stone and was now officially obese, but no further details have been released since his departure.

Regarding the brain, President Trump has said he has “passed” cognitive tests twice, but has not made the tests public or said whether he has taken them since 2018.

President Trump has revealed that his father, Fred, “had Alzheimer’s disease,” and some experts say he may have a high genetic risk for dementia.

Speculation will inevitably continue, and new gaffes, whether physical or verbal, will be brandished as evidence.

Trump himself acknowledged in a 2022 interview that his health could prevent him from running for president again.

“We always have to talk about health. He seems to be in good health, but he’s going to get a letter from his doctor tomorrow asking him to come back for another appointment,” he told The Washington Post. “It’s not good for them to use the word ‘again’,” he said.

But here he is back in the White House, looking a lot like his old self, for better or worse.