Trump is almost 80. That doesn't make him another Biden. | Opinion

President Donald Trump went for a checkup at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on May 26. It went well, according to Trump.

“Just finished my 6 month physical at Walter Reed Military Medical Center. Everything checked out PERFECTLY,” he posted to social media. “Thank you to the great Doctors and Staff!”

Ahead of the appointment, the White House described it as “routine annual dental and medical assessments.” It was Trump’s third scheduled visit to Walter Reed in the past 13 months.

None of this sounds especially newsworthy. Yet Trump’s trip to the doctor has drawn intense scrutiny from a legacy media determined to portray the president as unfit for the job.

Trump will celebrate his 80th birthday on June 14, making him the oldest president ever elected. Still, the oldest sitting president in American history remains former President Joe Biden, who is four years older than Trump.

Like most people, Trump doesn’t love admitting he’s old. But he is. So it’s perfectly reasonable to pay closer attention to his health than that of a younger commander in chief.

What’s not reasonable is the double standard from the media and the left, which spent nearly four years insisting Biden was in top shape and fully capable of handling the country’s most demanding job when he clearly wasn’t.

Sure, Trump has issues. His age isn't one of them.

If you follow the news at all, you’ve probably seen the endless photos of Trump’s hands and the supposedly “alarming” bruising on them. It also appears he uses concealer to lessen the discoloration.

Is this really some kind of major scandal?

A recent article in The Daily Beast carried this headline: “Bruised and Battered ‒ Trump, 79, Debuts Swollen Hands as Health Concerns Mount.”

“Photos from the event captured what appeared to be two different shades of concealer patching up Trump’s bruises, though neither one properly matched his skin tone,” the article says. “His hands also looked swollen.”

Trump has previously addressed the bruising, attributing it to frequent aspirin use.

This kind of bruising isn’t unusual in older people. My own dad bruises easily, too. And it has nothing to do with mental acuity.

The same is true for Trump.

Yet that hasn’t stopped the accusations that he’s in mental decline. Take a recent piece in The Atlantic titled “A Different Kind of Fading President.” 

The article attempts to compare an aging Trump to an aging Biden, arguing Trump is fading because he’s doing a little too much.

“His (Trump’s) genius is in capturing attention,” the article states. “Biden’s public schedule grew sparse, and he actively avoided generating news; Trump holds multiple events in front of the press nearly every day. He fills Americans’ TV screens and social-media feeds seemingly nonstop, with an almost-unspoken message: How could he be fading if he’s everywhere?”

Good question. That hardly sounds like a president in serious decline. Yet the author concludes Trump’s energy and packed schedule show “he’s becoming a purer, less filtered version of himself.”

Oh my.

Trying to lump Trump and Biden together is gaslighting all over again

Here’s the reality: The Biden White House did everything it could to keep the president out of the spotlight and away from situations where he might be asked tough questions or forced to go off script. Biden held a record-low number of news conferences and media interviews.

When concerns about Biden’s mental and physical decline were raised, mostly by Republicans and conservative media, White House officials dismissed them as “cheap fakes.”

Until Biden metaphorically face-planted during the June 2024 presidential debate with Trump, the public was told to ignore the obvious signs that he had no business serving as president, let alone running for another term.Trump, by contrast, is constantly in front of the media. Does he say wild things? Absolutely. But he always has.

No doubt Democrats and much of the legacy media are embarrassed by how aggressively they downplayed Biden’s deterioration.

Trying to equate Trump’s behavior with Biden’s simply because both men are elderly is gaslighting all over again.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] or on X: @Ingrid_Jacques.