Chuck Todd believes that Donald Trump, 79, is “clearly hiding something” about his health as rumors swirled over Labor Day weekend that he was already dead.
The former Meet the Press moderator was speaking to fellow independent journalist Chris Cillizza on Tuesday, when he declared “There’s visible signs he’s got some health issues.”
He went on, “Now they appear to be old people health issues, particularly for old people that are out of shape and don’t care of themselves. So he’s got the—what looks like the COPD [Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease] issue, maybe, or at least stuff that could be related to that…the bruising on his hands that’s likely a side effect of a medication he may be taking in order to… blood thinner or something.”
Todd is one of many journalists and onlookers raising concerns over what has appeared for months to be Trump’s deteriorating health. The intensifying scrutiny added intrigue to the White House’s “mystery” announcement Tuesday afternoon, though he seemed unlikely to address the underlying cause of his bruised hands and swollen ankles, which he and the White House have gone to great lengths to try and conceal from the public.
When MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell dedicated a segment of his show last month to Trump’s cankles, pointing out that the president made the odd choice to “sit at the Oval Office desk” during an Oval Office meeting with foreign powers instead of sitting “in one of those chairs in front of the fireplace” and posited the move was to keep his swollen ankles out of view, Trump with off the deep end in a Truth Social rant calling the whole network “fake news.”
The White House insists the president’s visible maladies are symptoms of chronic venous insufficiency, a condition where leg veins become damaged and struggle to send blood back up to the heart.
But Todd’s declaration Tuesday is part of a growing call for more answers. Social media users presumed the president was deceased when he wasn’t seen in public for hours over the past several days. Vice President JD Vance fueled that speculation by declaring he’s “ready” to take over should tragedy strike the president—though he insisted Trump was in “incredibly good health.”
