Trump Sure Seems to Be Going to the Hospital a Lot

By Nikki McCann Ramirez

Nikki McCann Ramirez

View all posts by Nikki McCann Ramirez May 26, 2026

Donald Trump once again made a trip to the hospital on Tuesday, for yet another “routine” medical assessment, according to the White House. Trump spent the morning at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he received his “annual dental and medical assessment.”

Most wouldn’t know it, but the White House medical center has its own dentist on staff, which has performed routine dental care for past presidents and staffers. The justification for Trump’s visit to Walter Reed looked additionally flimsy given that the president had a dental appointment with his personal doctor in Florida earlier this month, and the repeat health appointments he’s had throughout his second term.

Regardless, all went well, according to Trump. “Just finished my 6 month physical at Walter Reed Military Medical Center,” the president wrote. “Everything checked out PERFECTLY. Thank you to the great Doctors and Staff! Heading back to the White House. President DJT.”

Trump has visited Walter Reed three times in a little over a year. He will celebrate his 80th birthday next month with a UFC event in front of the White House, and questions about the health of the oldest inaugurated president in American history are becoming hard to ignore. 

Over the weekend, Trump appeared at a Memorial Day celebration sporting the poorly blended glob of foundation on his hand that has become about as ubiquitous as his American flag lapel pin. The makeup is used to cover bruising on the back of his hand, which the White House has given contradictory explanations for, including claims that the injury is caused by too-frequent handshakes, a high dose of “big aspirin,” and that Trump bumped that specific spot on tables. 

On top of the repeat medical checkups and mysterious bruising, the aging president also seems to be dozing off in meetings and during public appearances. During the Memorial Day event at Arlington Cemetery, Trump appeared to take a cat nap while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed the gathered crowd. The president also appears to have snoozed in Cabinet meetings, document signings, and a slew of public events and Oval Office meetings. 

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Trump, who has long criticized his predecessor as an old man incapable of performing the functions of the job, is now confronting his own rapid aging, while insisting that everything is fine. Last week, Trump once again bragged that his cognitive evaluations are stellar. “They had tough questions. You have a bear, a snake, an elephant, and a horse — name the horse,” Trump recounted as part of an oft-performed bit meant to demonstrate his mental acuity. 

In a statement to PBS News this week, the White House reasserted that “President Trump is the sharpest and most accessible president in American history who is working nonstop to solve problems and deliver on his promises, and he remains in excellent health.”

Trump and the White House have a history of making superlative claims about the president’s health, both during his first administration and since he retook office. In April 2025, the administration released a health report that touted Trump’s “frequent victories in golf events,” and deemed him exceptionally healthy save for some scarring around the ear which was grazed by a bullet during the 2024 campaign.

Months later, in July, the White House revealed amid questions about persistent visible swelling in Trump’s legs that he had been diagnosed with “chronic venous insufficiency,” a common conduction in the elderly. In the fall, after conspiracies that he was seriously ill or even dead swirled on social media over Labor Day weekend, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he was alive and had “NEVER FELT BETTER.”

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