On 74th birthday, Trump's unsteady walk raises health questions
As US President Donald Trump turns 74 on Sunday, an incident a day earlier where he appeared unsteady on his feet has revived questions about his health just as he heads right into a gruelling re-election campaign.
Scrutiny of a good president's well being is always intense, and Trump features generally appeared vigorous for his time. Benefits of a routine physical released early this month revealed he was over weight - 244 pounds (110 kilograms) - but with otherwise ordinary test results.
But his visual aspect on Saturday at the US armed service academy in West Level, New York raised new questions about apparent signs of unsteadiness, balance problems and trouble enunciating particular words.
Since Trump has regularly mocked the health and acuity of his presumptive election opponent, Democrat Joe Biden - who's three years his senior - the dilemma of conditioning could weigh heavily in the campaign in advance.
After a widely circulated video on Saturday showed Trump walking tentatively and unsteadily down an extended ramp after delivering a commencement speech at West Level, he took to Twitter to issue an explanation.
"The ramp that I descended after my West Stage Commencement speech was lengthy & steep, had very little handrail and, most of all, was incredibly slippery," Trump said.
"The very last thing I was going to do is 'fall' for the Fake News to have fun with. Final ten ft I ran down to level ground. Momentum!"
Reporters at the picture said the elements was dry out and the ramp not particularly steep.
But Trump also seemed to have difficulty Saturday lifting a glass of normal water to his lips - starting the gesture with his right hand but then raising his left side apparently to help.
And, not for the 1st time, he appeared to mispronounce numerous names of well-known Americans, including those of army generals Ulysses S. Grant and Douglas MacArthur.
His West Stage performance was not the 1st time Trump's wellbeing has been questioned, particularly by his avowed political critics, whose speculation has have huge variations from early dementia to a stroke.
Late previous month, Trump seemed to have trouble position still throughout a solemn wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, while some commentators said he might simply have already been weary.
That appearance also came at the same time when Trump said he previously been taking a span of hydroxychloroquine, a drug he believed may help fight the coronavirus, despite too little medical evidence. Unwanted effects of the drug consist of dizziness and nausea.
Trump has repeatedly tested bad for Covid-19.
Speculation have been fuelled last November, when Trump made an unscheduled and secretive go to to the Walter Reed National Army INFIRMARY in Bethesda, Maryland.
The White Residence called the visit an "interim checkup" - though it had been unusual, coming just nine months after his previous exam - and rejected speculation about any "urgent or acute issues."
A spokeswoman insisted that Trump had considerably more energy "than anyone in the White House."
Should Trump show signals of physical weakness, it might undercut his frequent episodes on Biden, his presumptive opponent found in November.
In March, Trump tweeted that Biden was "fragile, both mentally and physically." And on June 11, he explained on Twitter that Biden "acts different than he employed to, he's even slower than he used to become."
During his 2016 advertising campaign, Trump had attacked then-opponent Hillary Clinton after she fell ill by a campaign event, declaring she was not actually up to the duty of being president.
During that advertising campaign, Trump's longtime doctor, Harold Bornstein, wrote in a letter that his patient's well being was "astonishingly good" and that his power and stamina had been "extraordinary."
But in 2018, Bornstein told CNN that Trump himself "dictated that overall letter. I didn't create that letter." - AFP
