Trump Doctor Visit Renews Health Scrutiny as 80th Birthday Nears

Trump on Tuesday is heading to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for his fourth publicly disclosed doctor's appointment since the start of his second term. The White House has offered few details about the visit, saying it would involve "routine annual dental and medical assessments."

Yet the nature of the May 11 announcement prompted more questions about Trump's well-being. It will be his third known meeting with a dentist this year, more than the biannual checkups typical for most Americans, and follows three doctor's visits last year.

The moment also shines a spotlight on Trump's age, as he turns 80 next month. It's coming at a challenging political time for a president set on projecting vigor and strength.

The US is bogged down in an intractable conflict with Iran, which has wreaked havoc on the global economy. Trump is also grappling with resistance from congressional Republicans who face the prospect of defeat in the November midterm election in large part due to voters who have soured on his leadership.

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A year into his second term, Trump has shown some visible signs of aging, including swelling in his legs, discoloration on his neck and bruising on his hands, which he attempts to cover with makeup. He's been diagnosed with a common vein disease. He also underwent advanced imaging last year on his heart and abdomen that the White House described as "preventative." He often closes his eyes for extended periods during Oval Office events.

Thus far, Trump's age has not become a political liability as it did for his predecessor, Joe Biden, whose highly public decline led him to abandon a re-election bid at the age of 81. In contrast with the increasingly frail Biden, Trump is a larger, more booming presence. He has also acknowledged he is barred from seeking another term.

Trump has long guarded and, at times, obfuscated details about his medical condition, making selective disclosures that have left unanswered questions. Throughout his political career, physicians and aides have offered limited or gauzy descriptions of his health, while withholding more comprehensive information that past presidents have made public. The scrutiny of Trump is heightened by his status as the oldest person ever inaugurated as US president.

"What will be conveyed is what Trump and the White House want us to know," said Arthur Caplan, a medical ethicist at the New York University medical school who studies presidential health. He pointed out that past administrations concealed the health issues of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.

"I'm not expecting big revelations," Caplan said. Some worthy questions are whether Trump is getting adequate sleep and the quality of his hearing, Caplan added.

The White House has indicated it will release a statement on the visit.

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"President Trump is the sharpest and most accessible President in American history who is working nonstop to solve problems and deliver on his promises, and he remains in excellent health," said White House spokesman Davis Ingle.

Trump, who delighted in taunting Biden about his age, argues he is in great shape. During a recent speech at a retirement community in Florida, he told the crowd, "I don't happen to be a senior. I'm much younger than you. I'm a much younger man than you."

Following his physical last April, Sean Barbabella, the president's doctor, praised Trump's "active lifestyle," citing his "frequent victories in golf events."

During Trump's first White House run in 2015, his physician Harold Bornstein in a letter said: "If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency." Years later, Bornstein told CNN that Trump had dictated the statement. Then in Trump's first term, then-White House doctor Ronny Jackson told reporters that Trump had "great genes."

And amid conflicting accounts given by the White House of last year's imaging tests, Trump told reporters he did not know what part of his body was analyzed, though he insisted the results were "perfect."

Trump at times has acknowledged his lack of physical activity. During an Oval Office event announcing his revival of the Presidential Physical Fitness Award, Trump quipped he spends "about one minute a day max" on exercise.

Trump has approached his role differently than during his initial term, embracing a more limited travel schedule. But he also holds public events most days and speaks to reporters regularly, including frequently taking calls from journalists on his cell phone.

Still, Trump's behavior has raised questions about whether he is more untethered than in his first term, though he has long intentionally cultivated a chaotic image and is now less controlled by advisers. He has lashed out at reporters and used profanity with more regularity, speaks repetitively and at length on pet topics, such as his White House renovations, and frequently unleashed torrents of late-night social media posts, loaded with conspiracy theories.

Trump seems aware of the questions about his well-being, repeatedly asserting that he has sailed through a number of cognitive tests.

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"I've taken it and I aced it all three times," Trump said at a rally Friday in New York. "Nice to be smart."

At the same time, he's acknowledged that his father, Fred, struggled with an "Alzheimer's thing" starting in his mid-80s.

Asked in a New York magazine interview earlier this year if he worries that could happen to him, Trump brushed any concern aside.

"No, I don't think about it at all. You know why?" he said. "Because whatever it is, my attitude is whatever."