The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

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Posted: Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:22 PM

CNN Rails On President Donald Trump's Health Using Chief Medical Correspondent To Question Mental Soundness

Ahead of Donald Trump’s first physical exam as president, CNN’s Jake Tapper and chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta expressed doubt on Friday about Trump’s health -- questioning his mental soundness and tagging him "borderline obese."

“I don’t want to be rude about it, but the president doesn’t look healthy and what we know of his diet and exercise habits, he doesn’t lead a predictably healthy lifestyle,” Tapper said critically in a video, shortly after saying that Trump has an “affinity for McDonald’s cheeseburgers” and a “disdain for exercise.”

"The president’s physical exam today at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center went exceptionally well."

- Dr. Ronny Jackson, commenting on the president's physical on Friday
Gupta, a neurosurgeon, said that Trump is “borderline obese.” He also called the president’s diet “pretty atrocious,” adding that Trump eats “cheeseburgers, a couple of fish sandwiches, chocolate shakes, steak with ketchup, 12 Diet Cokes a day -- it’s extraordinary, really.”

After Trump’s physical on Friday, Dr. Ronny Jackson, the president's physician, said that Trump is “excellent health."

"The president’s physical exam today at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center went exceptionally well," Jackson said in a statement following the exam.

“The president is in excellent health and I look forward to briefing some of the details on Tuesday,” he added.

Later, Tapper noted that Trump “doesn’t drink, doesn't smoke and doesn’t do drugs,” which he said belonged in the “plus column.”

But then, Tapper questioned the president’s mental health. “His mental health, in particular, should be tested for this reason, alone: He’s over the age of 65,” Gupta said in response. “It’s something that Medicare covers and recommends.”

But Gupta said that Trump’s physical most likely didn’t include this type of testing, “and if it did, we likely wouldn’t hear about it anyway and there’s no requirement that we do.”

On Twitter, while some agreed with Gupta and Tapper about a need for mental health evaluations and questioned the president's health, others took issue with the critical comments.

"How/why should we know, now, SG? Are you on his health report staff, following other leads or generating malinforma?" tweeted @Bob_Noble

12 Jan

Dr. Sanjay Gupta
✔
@drsanjaygupta
The discussion around the health of @realDonaldTrump has reached a new level of urgency because he'll be at Walter Reed today, undergoing a battery of tests to determine whether he's "fit to lead," a colloquial term many use but with little clinical basis. http://cnn.it/2AUCkn7

Bob Noble
@Bob_Noble
How/why should we know, now, SG? Are you on his health report staff, following other leads or generating malinforma?

12:47 PM - Jan 12, 2018
5 5 Replies 3 3 Retweets 27 27 likes
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