{"id":223482,"date":"2026-01-02T13:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T13:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/223482\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T13:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T13:32:08","slug":"trump-defends-heavy-aspirin-use-amid-health-questions-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/223482\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump defends heavy aspirin use amid health questions \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump<\/a> takes \u201cmore aspirin\u201d than his doctors recommend but says his \u201chealth is perfect\u201d, according to an interview given to the Wall Street Journal after the outlet recently questioned the 79-year-old US president\u2019s health.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump told the Journal that the large dose of aspirin he takes daily causes him to bruise easily and that doctors have encouraged him to take a lower dose \u2013 but he declined the advice because he has been taking it for 25 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a little superstitious,\u201d he said. \u201cThey say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don\u2019t want thick blood pouring through my heart. I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart. Does that make sense?\u201d<\/p>\n

Like his predecessor, Joe Biden<\/a>, Mr Trump is facing scrutiny over his health.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump\u2019s response to questions about his health have made headlines in recent months after he was spotted with what appeared to be make-up on his hand, and was seen to be drowsy in a cabinet meeting in December and at a meeting to promote lower costs of GLP-1 weight-loss medication.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the interview with the Journal, Mr Trump said he begins his day early at an office in the White House residence before coming downstairs around 10am to work in the Oval Office, which he does until 7pm or 8pm. He said he asked his staff to modify his schedule so that he can have fewer, more important meetings that he can give more attention to.<\/p>\n

\"Make-upMake-up on the back of Donald Trump\u2019s right hand, which officials say was to cover bruising. Photograph: Doug Mills\/The New York Times <\/p>\n

Mr Trump said he acted on the advice of his staff to slow his pace, including spending roughly two weeks at Mar-a-Lago, aka the \u201cwinter White House\u201d, over Christmas and new year. They have also counselled him to try to keep his eyes open during public events.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump\u2019s health and vitality is a sensitive issue, in part because the advancing frailty of Mr Biden became a significant issue and led to questions about a cover-up by White House senior aides. They deny that they saw obvious signs of decline.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump\u2019s Journal interview betrays frustration with his staff for not promoting his health more vigorously, the outlet said. \u201cLet\u2019s talk about health again for the 25th time,\u201d he said. \u201cMy health is perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Donald Trump at 79: slowing pace and shorter days highlight realities of ageing in officeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

But Mr Trump said he regretted undergoing a cardiovascular and abdominal advanced imaging scan during a routine health check-up in October because it drew attention. The White House initially said the screening was a CT scan, not an MRI.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn retrospect, it\u2019s too bad I took it, because it gave them a little ammunition,\u201d Mr Trump said. \u201cI would have been a lot better off if they didn\u2019t, because the fact that I took it said, \u2018Oh gee, is something wrong?\u2019 Well, nothing\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Trump\u2019s doctor, US navy captain Sean Barbabella, told the Journal that his patient was in \u201cexceptional health and perfectly suited to execute his duties as commander-in-chief\u201d. The White House provided an AI-summary analysis of Trump\u2019s electrocardiogram that gave him a cardiac age of 65.<\/p>\n

However, Mr Trump acknowledged that he tried compression socks to combat swelling in his legs, but soon took them off. \u201cI didn\u2019t like them,\u201d he said, adding that he had begun to walk around more and that the situation had improved.<\/p>\n

He said he was not interested in taking exercise other than a round of golf. \u201cI just don\u2019t like it. It\u2019s boring. To walk on a treadmill or run on a treadmill for hours and hours like some people do, that\u2019s not for me.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr Trump said he had plenty of energy, which he credited to genes he inherited from his parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenetics are very important,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I have very good genetics.\u201d \u2013 Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump takes \u201cmore aspirin\u201d than his doctors recommend but says his \u201chealth is perfect\u201d, according to an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[969,42,5455,43,40,38,41,39,90],"class_list":{"0":"post-223482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-joe-biden","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories","16":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}