Vice President JD Vance has sparked concern among internet denizens after his peculiar response to a question about Donald Trump’s health.
Trump’s general well being has come under scrutiny in the past few months as a result of a series of appearances where he’s sported an ugly bruise on his hand. The White House initially tried to play it off as simply a side effect of the POTUS shaking hands with so many people on a daily basis, but they’ve also tried – and failed – to cover up the bruise with makeup.
Add to that Trump being diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) earlier this summer – a condition marked by leg veins becoming damaged and unable to work as they should – and his age (he turns 80 next year) and it’s reasonable enough that speculation has arisen regarding his health.
Cue JD Vance, who was asked earlier this week if he was ready to step into the president’s shoes if ever the situation arose.
“I’ve had a lot of on-the-job training in the last 200 days, but the president is in incredibly good health. He’s got incredible energy,” Vance told USA Today.
“While most of the people who work around the president of the United States are younger than he is, I think that we find that he’s actually the last person to go to sleep, he’s the last person making phone calls at night, and he’s the first person who wakes up and is the first person making phone calls in the morning.”
He then stated: “If God forbid there is a terrible tragedy, I can’t think of better on-the-job training than what I’ve gotten in the last 200 days.”
No sooner had Vance’s interview hit the internet than did people begin to voice the sentiment that what he’d said was rather… well, strange.
“Strange thing to say as the person who is VP, no?” one person wrote on X.
Another added: “What an incredibly odd thing to say.”
A third chimed: “Interesting choice of words – the phrasing feels a bit ominous, but it’s standard VP talk about succession readiness.”
With Trump having chided and belittled political rivals for perceived deficiencies in the past, including a long-standing campaign to paint Joe Biden as unfit for office based on an alleged decline in his mental faculties, it’s perhaps no great surprise that his detractors are sharpening their own knives.
Earlier this year, Trump’s niece Mary warned about her uncle’s mental and emotional state. In an episode of her YouTube series Trump Trolls Trump, the psychologist described his behavior as a “reign of idiocy.”
“We’re now 166 days into the Trump regime’s reign of terror, reign of confusion, reign of chaos, but also let’s call it what else it is, it’s a reign of idiocy,” she said early last month.
She also claimed that her uncle was “declining rapidly” and “losing it every day”.
According to US Express News, an expert identified four signs that suggest Trump may be in the early stages of dementia.
The expert in question alleged that the POTUS Trump may be exhibiting early signs of the crippling condition, particularly in his motor skills, and highlighted a “telltale” sign in his right leg.
“The other things that’s actually even more diagnostic, and I had a neurologist point this out and then several neurologists confirmed it, if you watch the way he walks, he has what they call a leg swing, where his right he kind of swings it in a semicircle like it’s a dead weight, and he’s just kind of swinging it around.”
White House physician Sean Barbabella has previously described Trump as being in “good health”, adding that he’s ‘fully fit to execute the duties of Commander-in-Chief’.
What do you make of JD Vance’s answers and Donald Trump’s overall health? Let us know in the comments.