Donald Trump provides weird excuse for showing to go to sleep throughout conferences
As questions grow about the health and fitness to serve of Donald Trump, 79, the US President made a bizarre claim about the meetings he appeared to fall asleep in
Trump appeared to nod off in previous cabinet meetings(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Donald Trump has given a bizarre excuse for appearing to fall asleep during White House meetings.
He made the comment as he chaired a meeting of his Cabinet today – something that has previously dragged on for several hours. They usually consist of Trump going round the table as his top team take turns to say how great he is for a very long time.
But the last meeting in early December, made headlines because TV cameras in the room appeared to show the US President nodding off as his Cabinet praised him. Today he admitted the reason he occasionally appeared to have his eyes closed in the meetings.
“Last tie we had a press conference it lasted for three hours,” he said. “And some people said ‘He closed his eyes!’ Look, it got pretty boring in all fairness.” He claimed he hadn’t fallen asleep, but that the cameras had captured him during the eyes-closed part of his ‘cycle’.
“But I didn’t sleep,” he added. “I just closed them because I wanted to get the hell out of here.”
Which is a weird thing to say, because he is under no obligation to hold these lengthy, televised glazing sessions at all. Most Presidents don’t live stream their cabinet meetings. Neither, by all accounts, have most Presidents’ cabinets felt the need to treat Cabinet Meetings as an opportunity for performative sycophancy.
This summer, Trump, 79, will become the oldest man ever to hold the office of the Presidency. In a bid to dispel concerns about his health, Donald Trump gave an interview with the Wall Street Journal earlier this month. He admitted he uses compression socks to address the swelling in his lower legs, but then stopped because he didn’t like them.
Then he turned to the bruising, which you’ll remember the White House said was from “frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin.” He said he takes more aspirin than his doctors recommend but said he has resisted taking less because he’s been taking it for 25 years and said he is “a little superstitious.” Trump takes 325 milligrams of aspirin daily, according to his doctor – that’s about four times the usual dose for someone his age.
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“They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don’t want thick blood pouring through my heart,” Trump said. “I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart. Does that make sense?” No it absolutely does not. The journal noted that Trump “expressed irritation about the public debate over his health”.
“Let’s talk about health again for the 25th time,” he sad at the start of an “impromptu phone call” to the newspaper, which was preparing to publish a story about his health.
