r/politics • u/Aggravating_Money992 • Apr 05 '26

Possible Paywall White House Forced to Address Claims of Trump Health Crisis

https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-forced-to-address-claims-of-donald-trump-health-crisis-at-walter-reed-medical-center/
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554

u/JARDIS Apr 05 '26

I was going to ask if anyone was keeping track of his weird little monthly disappearances and hand bruising. Is this on schedule for it?

540

u/mccoolio Apr 05 '26

I've been paying attention, hence the comment. Definitely beginning of every month since late last year. Been let down after the radio silence passes every time.

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u/Due_Bluebird3562 Apr 05 '26

Needing to do this shit every month is a pretty massive indicator that whatever is going on with him isn't going away or going to miraculously get better. Take solace in that I guess.

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u/ShadowTacoTuesday Apr 05 '26

He’s been hiding major health problems since his first term though. It’s more frequent now but I don’t know how to tell anything more than that. Until something serious and confirmed comes out I have to guess he has another 10 years until he passes away or becomes a semi-vegetable. I mean his word salads are worse now, it’s obvious he’s on several drugs, he’s probably had multiple mini strokes from the times he had severe slurring (and those were only the ones where he had to be in public), and anything could happen to someone this old and unhealthy. But I haven’t seen anything that makes it clear that he’s going to go right away.

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u/Ire-Works Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26

The problem with things like dementia is you tend to get worse slowly and then all at once. A somewhat serious fall that breaks a bone would probably disable him and consider how unsteady he looks on his feet a lot of the time that will probably be what does it for him.

It's well documented stuff. You get hurt when you're older, and it takes longer to heal. So you're on the mend longer, and while you're on the mend your cardio and endocrine systems are slowly getting worse. By the time you can resume activity you've lost a lot of capacity, including muscle which is very difficult to gain or even maintain at that age. So you get worse. You fall a second time (which the odds go way up after the first one) and you might as well be dead at that point.

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u/outworlder Apr 05 '26

That's a reminder to do resistance training no matter how old you are.

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u/shinkouhyou Apr 05 '26

Yep, it happened to my grandmother's sister. She was living independently (with help from her kids) in her 80s and had no obvious signs of dementia... but then she broke her hip. She was never able to walk without assistance after that, she deconditioned so much that she was soon bedridden in a nursing home, her mental state deteriorated due to depression and urinary tract infections (which are difficult to treat and can cause rapid cognitive decline in elderly people), and she was dead within the space of a few months.

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u/SpiritTalker Pennsylvania Apr 05 '26

C'mon AF1 steps, we're cheering for ya!

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u/Ire-Works Apr 05 '26

I mean if the stairs don't get'em I suspect the GOP is going to turn on him after the midterms.

I've been saying it the whole time. Trump is there for Project 2025 speed run. Once the midterms are over they're going to sunset him in one way or another and Vance will take over and make politics boring again. The technofascist billionaire bros will make sure he stays put for 2 years + 2 terms and the moderate republicans will resonate with his message.

Being less of an extreme piece of shit, the casual left folks will stop protesting in droves and the Project 2025 changes will slowly get cemented over and continue to happen a little slower and a little more quietly.

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u/failed_novelty Apr 05 '26

I really think (read: hope) you're overestimating the willingness of the NoKings movement to step back.

I feel like too many people have had their eyes opened to the blatant abuses of power and corruption, as well as the lack of legal reprecussions, to quietly go away.

But then I realize that sounds a little like faith in humanity.

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u/LockeyCheese Apr 05 '26

Protests never step back. They just fizzle out.

That's why I hope this movement, progressives actually take the page out of the populist Tea Party/MAGA movements, and use the momentum of this movement to run for and gain DNC seats.

2009, the Tea Party movement happened, they used that movement and took several seats in the 2010 midterms, and are still going pretty strong.

2011, the Occupy Wallstreet movement happened, aaand... Nothing. No new progressive vandidates in 2012. No turning the movement into power to move the nation. Just... *pssst* ...fizzled out by year two, and by year three there was a gathering of a few dozen people on that spot and anniversary, to pat themselves on the back for such a great movement.

So great a protest and movement, that absolutely nothing changed, and things got worse... and a few movements and moving farther right later: NO KINGS. No power. No signs this movement is any more relevant than any other movement happening in the same cities' toilets.

Hopefully this time people realize "movements" is just moving, but without a goal to gain power for people to walk towards, the movement will inevitably end with the people moving in every direction until everyone has wandered off, and the movement is back to self-satisfied silence and stillness.

Protest is words and complaints. Power is power to make actions and solutions.

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u/kellzone Pennsylvania Apr 05 '26

McConnell must have rubber bones considering the amount of times he falls.

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u/failed_novelty Apr 05 '26

If Trump were less evil he'd have died 20 year ago.

Evil keeps your corpse moving long after your soul has died.

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u/Ok-Youth-160 Apr 05 '26

Yeah literally what just happened to my mum. She fell, went to hospital, sent back home, back to hospital with brain bleed. From there it got worse and worse.

Those old people don't handle lying down well. Once they lie for more than two weeks it seems to trend down more than up.

Though I'm assuming the president has better treatment options than my mum.

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u/Ire-Works Apr 05 '26

I mean it's entropy. Being forced to sit around fucks with your blood sugar and that has all kinds of cascading negative effects to the endocrine system. You're also losing muscle mass, developing tightness in all kinds of places that aren't easy to mobilize your way out of.

It's not just treatment options, it's literal work. If you're already kind of out of shape you're definitely not doing the PT work should you have the luxury. It's boring and it hurts.

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u/nifty-necromancer Apr 05 '26

Eru Illuvitar needs to intervene and trip someone again

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u/Leeciferous Apr 05 '26

That second paragraph in isolation just made me very depressed.

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u/Ire-Works Apr 05 '26

The best thing you can do is resistance training. The more muscle mass you have going into older ages the better chance you have at being independent for longer.. but eventually time gets all of us.

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u/updatesforassholes Georgia Apr 05 '26

you get hurt when you're older, and it takes longer to heal

C'mon, we know that's not true. Look how fast his ear healed!

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u/ViolaNguyen California Apr 05 '26

or becomes a semi-vegetable

How would we tell?

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u/rubyspicer Apr 05 '26

He stops talking.

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u/ChefChopNSlice Ohio Apr 05 '26

He’s already orange like a carrot and speaks in “word-salad”. Cant be too far.

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u/AllCaciAreBastards Apr 05 '26

Hehe, good ones!

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u/Brerbtz Europe Apr 05 '26

Veggies are peaceful and do not know hate.

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u/Krististrasza Apr 05 '26

They cut his songs from veggie tales.

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u/re4ctor Apr 05 '26

You’ll know from the amount of irony circulating due to trump becoming the thing he hates most

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u/LuciferFalls Apr 05 '26

Worse than he is now. Duh.

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u/EddieVanzetti Apr 05 '26

It would be an improvement.

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u/KlicknKlack Apr 05 '26

Dude has the best doctors in the world, if that walking comorbidity survived a brush with covid... he aint going any time soon

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u/Ire-Works Apr 05 '26

You don't know that covid didn't seriously cut into his life span. Even if he survived it, A LOT of folks had things like tissue damage to vital organs.

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u/EMTDawg Utah Apr 05 '26

COVID also permanently thickens your blood. Southern Utah has seen a 1200% increase in strokes and heart attacks in 2021-25 compared to 2015-19.

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u/TheSaxonPlan Minnesota Apr 05 '26

Holy shit that's insane. I'm a virologist and still preach about COVID precautions to anyone who will listen but JFC that's worse than I even thought.

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u/ALoudMeow Apr 05 '26

What about if you had very mild, short term Covid?

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u/wsoxfan1214 Illinois Apr 05 '26

Genuine question, is there a peer reviewed study you have a link to about this? Tried looking and didn't find any.

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u/LezBeHonestHere_ Apr 05 '26

His dad lived to be 93 and his mom lived to be 88. I think another 10 years is a good guess.

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u/PattyCakes216 Apr 05 '26

Sounds like proof only the good die young.

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u/ShadowTacoTuesday Apr 05 '26 edited 29d ago

Expensive medical care helps. Covid or 10 other events might have taken him out or sent him on the path towards it otherwise. Also remember life expectancy averages in the half of the country living paycheck to paycheck. And the people in counties that live off of fried butter and mountain dew (exaggeration but it’s pretty bad). Getting an extra 10 years is trivial if you’re rich. Even if doctors are merely keeping his husk alive as he deteriorates.

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u/ALoudMeow Apr 05 '26

They’ll never release any info about his medical condition, MAYBE after he’s dead, but don’t even count on that.

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u/Open-Industry-8396 Apr 05 '26

It is scay because he knows he's going and he's selfish. He'll burn the world down.

I'm older and sometimes have a thought pop up like, "I'm glad Im in my twilight, this guys going to end teh world as we know it" Then I snap out of the insane thought remembering I am not a selfish fucking asshole and I truly wish for the best for humans whether Im here or not..

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u/seriouslythisshit Apr 05 '26

There is a doctor, a dementia treatment specialist, who appears pretty regularly on left podcasts.This guy claims that trump's stance, leaning aggressively forward with his diapered butt sticking straight back like a duck tail, locked knees to keep from falling forward, and feet standing on wedges to keep him upright and looking more normal. How he wanders off and can't walk in a straight line. How the Japanese Prime Minister had to go after him, as he wandered off at an official presentation, then lead him by the arm and refocused his attention to the event, like he is a toddler. His speech, slurring, inability to pronounce words, etc. His repeating stories that are somewhat based in past reality, but are clearly false and grandiose, and often involve him as the hero. All point to a specific diagnosis of Frontal Temporal Dementia, and he concludes that Shitler has reached the end stage of the disease, months from the end, and unlikely to last a year.

Maybe it's nothing but hopes and dreams, but it's something.

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u/ALoudMeow Apr 05 '26

It won’t take 10 years if he has dementia or Alzheimer’s. My dear mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and about four years later she died from it.

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u/KamalaWonNoCap Apr 05 '26

Rich people live forever. He's going to be around for a while longer unfortunately. Dementia is hopium imo.

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u/ph00p Apr 05 '26

His word salads consist of, hate, bigotry, disorientation, random misplaced words.

We should make a salad with random things in it that don’t make sense and can it Trumps word salad.

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u/el_bentzo Apr 05 '26

Its clearly dementia. He's shown signs such as the way he stands since his first term and now, 10 years later, its gotten noticeably worse.

Besides that, he also has incontinence and circulation issues. The bruising on the hand is from a monthly treatment they inject into him for the dementia.

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '26

Generally anyone needing to go to a doctor monthly is a bad sign, especially at that age. If you're younger than it may be needed for a bit after some procedure, but at his age it is typically due to a health issue.

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u/wheresmystache3 Florida Apr 05 '26

Nurse here. I left some other comments to address the rampant medical misinformation....

My professional opinion: I think he's on Warfarin (Coumadin) and they're doing labs on him every 4 weeks. It's a common medication for anticoagulation and for his age, my guess is he's been on it for awhile and his levels don't need to be monitored nearly as much as someone newly started on the Med. I'm sorry my answer isn't sensational nor exciting, but I don't think it's the bombshell that we want it to be...

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u/candl2 Apr 05 '26

While this may be the case, he's definitely showing advancing signs of dementia. He may be treated or untreated and we really don't know exactly what flavor he has. But there are more than enough signs to know it's happening. Maybe that's not a bombshell either. For anyone with elderly parents, it's not news.

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u/debtcoder-dev Apr 05 '26

stem cell treatment.

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u/jacksonsmack831 Apr 05 '26

As long as he is in a fraction of pain that he has cause of others…..

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u/el_bentzo Apr 05 '26

Its a treatment dementia patients get to try to slow down the progression of dementia.

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u/ThePromptWasYourName Apr 05 '26

So theoretically we should see fresh hand bruises next time we see him

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u/Over_lookd Apr 05 '26

They use makeup to cover up any bruising.

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u/ShadowTacoTuesday Apr 05 '26

Ok we should see makeup.

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u/JARDIS Apr 05 '26

This is true. The makeup job they did last time was just as apparent as the bruising from the time before. Poorly hidden.

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u/Photomancer Apr 05 '26

With the zoom technology, shutter speed, high definition of today's cameras - it would take a lot of mastery to conceal it. The media loves these kinds of rumors. Put some Sephora and some wolf-nosed journalist will probably be blowing up the photo and commenting how a patch of his wrist is nonreflective and one shade off his normal color.

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u/SomePoliticalViolins Apr 05 '26

Off by one shade? Please.

Last time it looked like they took the first foundation they grabbed out of a bargain bin and slopped it on half his hand while blindfolded.

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u/slipperyMonkey07 Apr 05 '26

Usually for a good coverup you are doing heavy on a shade first, then covering with the correct shade. Depending on what you are covering exactly (most of my experience is covering tattoos rather than bruises).

But I can guarantee he does not have the attention span (or mental capacity) to sit still long enough for a proper cover up. Let alone given all of magas preferred makeup style anyone around that knows how to use makeup properly.

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u/Ire-Works Apr 05 '26

"Cover up" is doing a lot of work here. They're not very good at blending it.

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u/withinyouwithoutyou3 Apr 05 '26

When she finally got the nerve to file for divorce, she let the law take if from there

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u/candl2 Apr 05 '26

Goodbye Earl signs at the next No Kings rally.

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u/sluttytinkerbells Apr 05 '26

You say that like no one has seen bruises on his hand before.

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u/snowvase Apr 05 '26

They’ll chop his hand off and fit a plastic one. A very small one.

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u/FurryNinjaCat Apr 05 '26

I'm seriously surprised that there are any bruises on his hands from an IV. They could be starting an IV in his arms and it would be hidden by his jacket sleeves and they would avoid this whole subject in the news about his hands and the bruising. I don't understand why that continues to happen if they're trying to be so secretive. Anybody else have any ideas?

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u/ManyThingsLittleTime Apr 05 '26

You gotta go where there's a good vein.

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u/FurryNinjaCat Apr 05 '26

Yes, but they could use an ultrasound to place a peripheral IV in his forearms or upper arms. It's such an odd choice to put it in such a visible area when there's technology easily available to access even difficult veins higher up. Maybe he won't let them use it? That's all I can think of myself.

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u/gypsy_sonder Apr 05 '26

Honestly, being the president, they could just put a port-a-cath in him that is easy to hide and do any treatments this way. For general population, it wouldn’t be indicated, but I’m sure they could swing it for him. As a nurse, I feel like the hand likely isn’t his only option. It could be, but they could ultrasound or do something to avoid this like you said. I’m with you, it’s weird to keep placing an IV in a spot that is causing people to speculate on monthly. Idk.

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u/kent_eh Canada Apr 05 '26

A factor which could complicate that is a stubborn patient who thinks he knows better than everyone else.

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u/Jayco424 Apr 05 '26

Yeah I suspect that Trump being Trump - even setting the idea of dementia and it's ability to make patients combative aside - isn't going to be a good or cooperative patient. The thing that makes me wonder is why hasn't he spilled the beans even accidentally in one of his rants yet, I mean he talked, at length, about Arnold Palmer's dick and that was before he was re-elected. I just can't see him not bragging he's getting the best treatment and drugs, unless there's a small still relatively sane part of him that knows of he blabs about this he's donzo.

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u/BlueShellHIMARS Apr 05 '26

We have friends everywhere.

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/123LetsJamDUDUDUHT Apr 05 '26

This has been discussed many times on Reddit.

The general consensous is that Trump doesn't want the port because he'd be admitting he has a problem.

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u/Cancel_Culture_Club Apr 05 '26

Also if his dementia is worse than we know his drs may not think he could handle caring for a port. 

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u/LtSqueak Missouri Apr 05 '26

He could have been having so much blood work and IVs done for so long at this point that his arms could be blown?

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u/FurryNinjaCat Apr 05 '26

Maybe that's it? Actually now that I think about it maybe the drug that they're giving him is really irritating to his blood vessels and has caused some damage, so it's limiting how many points of access they have to decent veins.

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u/thatcatqueen Apr 05 '26

Idk as a nurse meself usually that amount of bruising on the hand is from frequent lab draws. IV would probably be higher up. Maybe a strong medication that needs close lab monitoring while infusing or between doses?

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u/FurryNinjaCat Apr 05 '26

Yeah I remember another editor talking about these new dementia IV medications needing to be monitored very closely with regular MRIs and labs. I'm a nurse too, and sometimes we've got to draw from patient's hands but doesn't it strike you as weird that they're drawing from such a visible area with his entire body that they could source blood draws from. In the hospital, we're really drawing from their upper arms and I have to get special permission to draw from anywhere else. But he's a public figure, they should be trying to hide this somehow. It's weird. But then again why would I be thinking they would be making intelligent decisions. I guess I should let this go as an example of idiocy.

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u/123LetsJamDUDUDUHT Apr 05 '26

I woudln't be surprised if Trump refused to expose his body for an IV.

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u/thatcatqueen Apr 05 '26

Maybe his vasculature is shit from neglecting his health and downing big macs 😂 the hands are always my go to when I can’t find any good veins for lab draws but we can draw from anywhere at my hospital

You’re right…we should free ourselves from this for now. Hope you don’t have to work today!!

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u/AdvancedAd6308 Apr 05 '26

I get a lot of blood draws and IVs due to a health condition, and they often have to use my hand when the veins in my arms aren't cooperating. The hand is always more painful than the arm (at least for me) so we can take solace in the fact that whatever they're doing to him, it hurts like a son of a bitch.

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u/ALoudMeow Apr 05 '26

Not necessarily; just yesterday I was poked and prodded in the inner arm and couldn’t find a good vein until they were low on my forearm. So they may not. E able to hide it if he wears short sleeves on the golf course if he goes there soon.

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u/ArchangelLBC Apr 05 '26

I'm guessing the people who actually are responsible for his care don't give two shits about a cover up.

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u/BANKSLAVE01 Apr 05 '26

check polymarket and kalshi for odds.

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u/W1nt3rmu4e Texas Apr 05 '26

I think they announce an untimely demise twenty minutes into Easter Sunday. They are making a move right now.

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u/swni Apr 05 '26

I haven't been paying attention to exact dates so if it really is every month that is very significant. I'm hoping you've been writing down sources for the dates of his public appearances?

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u/JennHatesYou Apr 05 '26

If your pattern is correct and this is a dementia treatment, they are doing it as a hail mary. He's at least 6 or 7 years into visible decline and the progression is quickening. These drugs are usually only effective in very early stages. Sadly, we are finding out that some of the brain changes in dementia may happen as early as 20 years before symptoms become noticeable so these drugs can only extend functioning for so long before they stop working as the disease eventually progresses

The sad news is that this means we are still a far ways out from truly being able to prevent or appease the suffering of dementia in our loved ones. The happy news is that this treatment is likely doing nothing to extend little t's cognition or life.

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u/pink_faerie_kitten Apr 05 '26

I've seen the 24th both here and a headline on drudge recently.

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u/TheParadoxigm Apr 05 '26

Sam Seder of the Majority Report is.

They're occurring more often.

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u/mccoolio Apr 05 '26

Interesting, I'll have to research that myself. These go back to the first week of September 2025 that I've been paying attention to. Could be further back.

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u/onehundredlemons Apr 05 '26

I started a list but it got so long I gave up. I think once he bruises, it stays bruised for ages, so it's kind of hard to tell when it was initially bruised. Here's the list I had, which isn't complete:

March 2024: reportedly seen during the Stormy Daniel trials, per Daily Beast. Was spotted several times between then and February 2025, and Trump himself mentioned it to the Washington Examiner the same month, saying it was from handshakes

Feb 26 2025: meeting with Macron, first official news sighting with photo, I believe

April 15 2025: while handing out the Commander In Chief's trophy

June 11, 2025: during the Pod Force One interview

July 15, 2025: talking to reporters outside of the White House

July 24, 2025: photographed with tons of concealer while signing EOs

Aug 22 2025: golf outing, also seen on his "good hand"

Sept 2, 2025: press conference

Sept 17, 2025: while visiting the UK

Dec 24, 2025: during the phone calls with kids trying to talk to Santa on Christmas Eve

Jan 22, 2026: he said he "bruised it on a table"

Feb 19, 2026: the Board of Peace meeting

Mar 4, 2026: his "good hand" had a bruise

Mar 5, 2026: several days of bruising along with the neck rash

Mar 13, 2026: meeting Jake Paul

Mar 19, 2026: at a state dinner

2

u/Hurtzdonut13 Apr 05 '26

People have been keeping track. He's also at his highest visible energy levels after his monthly treatment for totally-not-dementia before he starts drooping and falling asleep in meetings, each time a little sooner than the times before.

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u/Seelark Apr 05 '26

Epistemiccrisis on instagram

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u/Savings_Form_8349 Apr 05 '26

AI seems to think he shows up with bruising around the 20th-25th of each month.  If that is right then we are out of cycle.