I do not wish Trump ill. While he hasn\u2019t shown a shred of compassion for anyone other than himself, this doesn\u2019t justify any of us lacking compassion for him.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also in the interest of the US and the world that he be physically and mentally able to discharge the duties of his office.<\/p>\n
So we have reason to be concerned about Trump\u2019s visit to Walter Reed national military medical center last week for what the White House described as a \u201croutine annual dental and medical assessment\u201d. (A memo from Trump\u2019s physician released over the weekend by the White House said Trump \u201cremains in excellent health\u201d.)<\/p>\n
Trump turns 80 next month. I feel entitled to comment on the practical meaning of this milestone because I\u2019ll also turn 80 next month (he was born 10 days before me).<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s just say that reaching it doesn\u2019t mean altogether good things, unless you consider the alternative.<\/p>\n
Even in a healthy person, small things begin to break down as one approaches 80. Everything takes just a bit more time and effort. Joints ache. Energy isn\u2019t quite as abundant.<\/p>\n
The 80-year-old mind isn\u2019t as quick. The frontal lobe\u2019s capacity to remember names goes to shit. (Yesterday, I could barely remember the name of a garage mechanic whom I\u2019ve known for nearly half a century.)<\/p>\n
Taken separately, such minor frailties typically mount to no more than a personal frustration. In a president of the United States, they can pose a major challenge to the nation and world.<\/p>\n
Trump frequently proclaims he\u2019s in excellent health. \u201cJust finished my 6 month physical at Walter Reed Military Medical Center. Everything checked out PERFECTLY,\u201d he wrote on Truth Social early Tuesday afternoon<\/a>. \u201cThank you to the great Doctors and Staff! Heading back to the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n But even \u201cPERFECTLY\u201d is a relative concept for someone ending his eighth decade and beginning his ninth, who\u2019s the oldest person to assume the presidency and the second-oldest to hold the office. (Joe Biden was 82 when he left in 2025.)<\/p>\n Presidents aren\u2019t legally required to release their medical records but, given the effluvium of lies in which Trump permanently floats, we\u2019d be excused if we didn\u2019t entirely trust this \u201cPERFECTLY\u201d report.<\/p>\n Plus, there are his bruised hands, swollen ankles, bouts of drowsiness, exceedingly long blinks during official meetings (some call them \u201cnaps\u201d) and erratic \u2013 if not off-the-charts weird \u2013 behavior.<\/p>\n Add in the frequency of his health \u201ccheckups\u201d.<\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s visit to Walter Reed was Trump\u2019s third in-person doctor\u2019s visit in a little more than a year. His first physical of this term of office was in mid-April<\/a> last year. He returned in early October<\/a> for a \u201csemiannual physical\u201d. In early January<\/a>, he had what was described as a brief dental appointment. Earlier this month<\/a>, another dental appointment. Followed by his return to Walter Reed on Tuesday for his third physical in 13 months.<\/p>\n Consider also the shifting explanations. In July, navy Capt Sean Barbabella, Trump\u2019s physician, explained that the bruises on Trump\u2019s right hand were \u201cconsistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking\u201d. The explanation seemed plausible until the bruises spread to his left hand.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also the changing story about Trump\u2019s scans. In December, he told reporters<\/a> that he\u2019d had an MRI in October, but wasn\u2019t sure what part of his body was scanned. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t the brain,\u201d he said, defensively, \u201cbecause I took a cognitive test and I aced it.\u201d Barbabella then issued a memo<\/a> explaining it had been a scan of his heart and abdomen, and that in both cases the imaging was \u201cperfectly normal\u201d.<\/p>\n In January, Trump altered his story<\/a> to say it was a CT scan rather than an MRI. Why? Trump being Trump, presumably he doesn\u2019t want anyone to know anything about his health that might reveal something he fears enemies and critics might see as a weakness.<\/p>\n \u201cIn retrospect, it\u2019s too bad I took [the scan] because it gave them a little ammunition,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI would have been a lot better off if [I] didn\u2019t, because the fact that I took it said: \u2018Oh gee, is something wrong?\u2019 Well, nothing\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s he afraid of? Probably that the American public will catch on to his diminishing capacities.<\/p>\n Three years ago, according to a Washington Post\/ABC News\/Ipsos poll<\/a>, only 28% of the public thought Trump insufficiently healthy to hold the nation\u2019s highest office. This month, the same poll found that 55% of the public thought his health insufficient for him to serve effectively.<\/p>\n Behind the public\u2019s mounting worries is a growing sense that Trump isn\u2019t mentally all there.<\/p>\n Physical and mental health aren\u2019t easily separated, especially as one reaches 80. I often can\u2019t remember where I put my wallet and keys or why I\u2019ve entered a room. I also have less patience than I used to have. (I\u2019m less tolerant of long lines, automated phone menus and Republicans.)<\/p>\n But if Trump can\u2019t remember where he put, say, a top-secret memo or why he entered the Situation Room, or if he expresses bizarre impatience, it\u2019s a potential risk to the nation and world.<\/p>\n \u201cOpen the Fuckin\u2019 Strait, you crazy bastards, or you\u2019ll be living in Hell,\u201d Trump exploded on Easter morning, adding an Islamic prayer to the end of the post.<\/p>\n The following Tuesday, he threatened that unless Iran struck a deal in 12 hours, its whole civilization would die.<\/p>\n When Iran shot down two US airmen, aides who were getting minute-by-minute updates reportedly kept Trump out of the Situation Room because they believed his impatience wouldn\u2019t be helpful<\/a>, a senior administration official said.<\/p>\n Then came Trump\u2019s rant against the pope.<\/p>\n Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy. \u2026 I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn\u2019t! \u2026 Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It\u2019s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it\u2019s hurting the Catholic Church!<\/p>\n During a subsequent Q&A with reporters, Trump doubled down: \u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s doing a very good job. He likes crime, I guess. \u2026 I am not a fan of Pope Leo.\u201d<\/p>\n Days later, Trump posted an AI-generated portrait of himself as a kind of American Jesus. When this caused a wave of criticism and outrage (much of it from fundamentalist Christians), he insisted he was portraying himself \u201cas a doctor, making people better\u201d.<\/p>\n Rather than helping Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections by, for example, embarking on an \u201caffordability tour\u201d (as White House aides have urged him to do), Trump has been on a \u201crevenge tour\u201d against Republican members of Congress he deems insufficiently loyal \u2013 a gambit that may cost Republicans dearly in the midterms.<\/p>\n Yet Trump insisted at a cabinet meeting that \u201cI don\u2019t care about the midterms\u201d. He was referring at that moment to Iranian officials who \u201cthought they were going to outwait me\u201d by relying on mounting political pressures to force him to give up, but he might as well have been talking about the blowback from his revenge tour.<\/p>\n Trump ended the cabinet meeting with further evidence of his mental decline, in another rant against Somali Americans. \u201cThe Somalians, what they\u2019ve done to Minnesota, the Somalians, crooked as hell. Ilhan Omar, crooked as hell,\u201d he said, in reference to the Democratic representative from Minnesota. \u201cThey\u2019re all crooks, and we got them, we got them. Now we\u2019re putting the clamps on.\u201d<\/p>\n His antipathy toward Somali Americans is growing, along with his troubling and erratic behavior. In December, weeks before ICE went on a rampage in Minneapolis, Trump had claimed that Somalis made Minnesota a \u201chellhole\u201d, saying: \u201cThe Somalians should be out of here. They\u2019ve destroyed our country.\u201d Of Somalia-born Omar, Trump said: \u201cShe shouldn\u2019t be allowed to be a congresswoman, and I\u2019m sure people are looking at that. She should be thrown the hell out of our country.\u201d A day earlier, he called the representative \u201cgarbage<\/a>\u201d, saying he didn\u2019t want Somalis in the US.<\/p>\n Can you imagine any other president of the United States singling out a group of foreign-born Americans like this? Of course not.<\/p>\n The evidence continues to mount. Trump is clearly incapable of satisfactorily discharging the duties of president of the United States.<\/p>\n The sooner the 25th amendment is invoked, or he is impeached, the safer are America and the world.<\/p>\n Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist and his newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com<\/a>. His new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, is out now in the US<\/a> and in the UK<\/a><\/p>\n This article was amended on June 1 2026 to note that Trump and the author are entering their ninth decade of life. A previous version had stated they were entering their eighth decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I do not wish Trump ill. 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