Throughout Donald Trump’s first presidency, the same media that went on to ignore five years of clearly declining health from Joe Biden (including during his 2020 presidential campaign) trotted out an array of doctors and other purported “medical experts” to try to diagnose Trump’s physical and mental health from afar.
We also remember the ridiculous fretting in the Trump 45 era over President Trump once walking down a ramp slowly, as well as the bonkers spin surrounding him holding a glass of water with both hands at the same event in June 2020.
Here are some of the headlines we got at the time:
From that CNN report:
During the same event, the awkward way Trump sipped water from a glass also raised questions. Trump appeared to have difficulty lifting his right arm to his mouth, so he used his left hand to push the bottom of the glass higher.
Here we are now, nearly one full year into Trump’s second term in office, and the MSM are in “just asking questions” mode on Trump’s health, with CNN‘s Jake Tapper interviewing Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who was a cardiologist for the late Dick Cheney, on tweets Dr. Reiner wrote about how he was “seriously concerned” about Trump’s health after watching his address to the nation Wednesday night:
JAKE TAPPER: Dr. Reiner, what specifically was it about President Trump that you found so concerning watching him last night, especially in the context of, you know, he gives outrageous speeches and has been for years?DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: […] But it was the way it was delivered. It was delivered in with a manic cadence, almost a frantic cadence. It was as if you felt like you were listening to a podcast on 2X.And that kind of manic delivery was very, very disturbing, very pressure, very pressurized speech. And as the address went on, his — the cadence of his remarks became quicker. And we’ve never seen the president, you know, like that. He seemed almost frantic. And it was disturbing to watch.It was disturbing because he’s the commander in chief. He’s not just the head of the government. He’s the commander in chief of the greatest armed forces this world has ever seen. And it’s — it was disturbing to see him with in such a — almost uncontrolled cadence.TAPPER: So you call his cadence manic and uncontrolled. And then earlier today, and this is not the first time this has happened, the president appeared to be struggling to keep his eyes open during a public White House event in the Oval Office earlier today. We’re showing the video right now. I don’t know if that worries you. What’s your take on that? What is that?REINER: So he’s done this several times now in the last few weeks.
Watch:
Tapper’s colleague, media hall monitor Brian Stelter, amplified his rant and interview, apparently hoping people would forget he (Stelter) was pushing the Biden-Harris administration’s “cheap fakes” narratives about the Biden videos in June 2024:
Just a few days before Tapper’s interview with Reiner, he admitted on the Obama Bros’ “Pod Save America” podcast that he was covering Trump’s health more because the media had dropped the ball on covering Biden’s health during his time in office.
A little less than a month ago, the New York Times got the ball rolling on the “Trump is unwell” narrative by writing about how Trump supposedly seemed fatigued and was allegedly starting to schedule some events later in the day. They, too, consulted doctors for parts of their story:
Axios reporter Alex Thompson, who, along with Tapper, published a book about Biden’s decline earlier this year, added his .02 about the president’s schedule:
I think a line from the Times report on the fact that Trump “is taking more foreign trips” this time around might have been the first clue needed for Thompson, and even the journos who wrote the story, to understand the true reasons why Trump’s schedule is a little different this time around in comparison to 2017, and why he may occasionally look tired.
Is it okay for the MSM to ask questions about an elected official’s health? Sure. It’s part of the job. The only problem is that not only are they inconsistent about it, but they are also wildly partisan in how and why they choose to cover (and not cover) the issue.
– Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via X. –
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