The White House has taken a stern stance against a CNN journalist, branding him an “idiot” in response to an article focusing on Donald Trump’s age. The report, penned by Kevin Liptak, carried the headline: “Trump’s advanced age and threats to his life serve as reminders of his own mortality.” Swiftly responding to the piece, the White House’s rapid response team was quick to criticize, including an insult and a personalized edit. On the platform X, they wrote, “The ‘threats to his life serve as reminders’ that Radical Left lunatics – incited by outlets like gutter trash CNN – keep trying to murder him. And @POTUS works harder in one day than you have in your entire life.” The post, which also tagged Liptak, was accompanied by a screenshot of the senior reporter’s byline.
A year of scrutiny
The controversy surrounds a story that delves into Trump’s health and the mounting public attention as he approaches his 80th birthday. Over the past year, his well-being has been a topic of increasing scrutiny. The article also highlights recent threats to his life, coinciding with his visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for a routine physical. Following his check-up, Trump took to social media to declare, “Just finished my 6-month physical at Walter Reed Military Medical Center. Everything checked out PERFECTLY. Thank you to the great Doctors and Staff!” Liptak’s report suggests that even a clean bill of health might not suffice in quelling public concerns, drawing parallels with Joe Biden’s troubled 2024 election campaign. The report noted, “Yet even though Trump is a louder and more visible presence than [Biden] was during his presidency, he still travels less often than he did during his first term and has on multiple occasions closed his eyes for long stretches during on-camera events.”
Chronic venous insufficiency
Liptak further examined the President’s alleged “physical deterioration,” pointing to recent bruising on his hands and leg swelling. The White House attributed the bruising to Trump’s regular Aspirin use, while the swelling was linked to chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), described by the President’s physician in July as “a benign and common condition” with no signs of serious arterial disease. Liptak’s piece also referenced a statement from Trump’s former personal physician, Harold Bornstein. Bornstein revealed that the clean bill of health he provided for Trump during his 2016 election run was actually “dictated” to him by Trump himself.
Liptak went on to insist that ‘medical episodes peppered Trump’s first term.’ Examples given included a colonoscopy the President underwent in November 2019 and a positive COVID-19 test in October 2020. In both cases, Liptak wrote, Trump’s White House was less than forthcoming. The reporter reminded onlookers how the public only came to know the November 2019 visit was for a colonoscopy after nearly two years of waiting and that the White House ‘failed to disclose the severity of’ the COVID case at the time. ‘I don’t know how he’s alive, but he is,’ Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, was quoted as saying during a January podcast appearance, where he discussed Trump’s well-known love for Diet Coke and McDonald’s. ‘It’s a dangerous life,’ Trump said in another featured quote, at the time speaking to still-stunned attendees of last month’s White House Correspondents Association Dinner after the assassination attempt.
Liptak remarked at a point on the ‘remarkable sangfroid’ seen from the oldest-ever inaugurated president. ‘Yet people who have spoken to Trump say his personal safety is never far from mind, even as he attempts to avoid it becoming a debilitating fixation,’ he wrote. When asked about the White House’s scathing response, CNN declined to comment. The rapid response team took another shot at Liptak in the afternoon – several hours after the first – with a post that included a photo of him reporting on Trump’s Walter Reed visit on Tuesday, with his eyes down. ‘What’s going on with @Kevinliptakcnn’s health? He’s sleeping on air!’ the White House remarked, as it appeared the reporter’s eyes were closed.
Several posts of CNN stars such as Kate Bolduan, Jake Tapper, Kevin Liptak, Dana Bash, Josh Dawsey and Brianna Keilar with their eyes closed followed. Tuesday’s physical exam was the fourth of Trump’s second term. He attacked Biden during his most recent campaign for things like slowed speech and filmed flubs seen over the course of his four years in office. Tapper’s book about Biden’s mental decline, meanwhile, came out a year ago and is now a New York Times bestseller. High-ranking Democrats helped keep it a secret, according to sources who spoke to Tapper and coauthor Alex Thompson for the book. Trump is set to ring in his 80th birthday on June 14. On Saturday, the Secret Service shot and killed a man who fired a gun near the White House. He has not yet been officially identified.
