July 18, 2017

Politico fat-shames Donald Trump.

"And even by his own charitable metrics—last year, Trump claimed to stand 6-foot-3 and weighs 236 pounds—he is five pounds shy of obese under the body mass index. By any measure, America’s president is overweight...."

Politico fat-shames Trump's supporters too: "The red states that went for Trump tend to have higher rates of obesity, sedentary lifestyles and even shorter lifespans...." But that appears in a paragraph in which a Harvard professor — from Harvard, not some red-state school — enthuses about how much these chubby folk could be helped if Trump took up even a modest fitness routine.

I thought I'd remembered reading that Trump is the least fit of any modern American President, but actually it says Trump is the modern American President who "has evinced" the least "interest in his own health." There are at least 2 reasons why it has to be put that way:

1. Other modern American problems had serious health problems. FDR was permanently paralyzed from the waist down, but maybe he took an interest in his health. JFK had Addison's disease and osteoporosis with pain so bad he had trouble putting on his shoes. Drugs he took: codeine, Demerol, methadone, Ritalin, meprobamate, librium, barbiturates, thyroid hormone, and gamma globulin. But you might still say he was interested in his health, and yet if he was so interested, why was he bent on riding in a convertible when, as President, he was a target for assassination?

2. Presidents show us what they want to show us. We don't know what's really true. Trump likes to show off that he's happy eating the fast food that we all can eat, and he takes advantage of golf carts to get from one walkable place to another. Other Presidents have chosen to exhibit themselves exercising. For example, here is Bill Clinton doing probably about the best he can while the camera is on (and giving a when-will-this-end look at his watch):



Trump might be very interested in his health, but just not into the JFK-style political showbiz of exercising for the camera. But JFK did that because he was so unhealthy. It was propaganda!

58 comments:

~ Gordon Pasha said...

Kennedy took corticosteroids as well. My mentor was one of the endocrinologists who treated him in the 1959s.

~ Gordon Pasha said...

*1950s

Kevin said...

McKinley, Taft, Teddy Roosevelt, Bill Clinton...

Is this what's left to them after the collusion with Russia effort failed? Bullying Trump about his weight?

Clayton Hennesey said...

One can understand why Clinton, trolling for otherwise unavailable blowjobs, was probably forced to publicly demonstrate something in the way of an attractive vigor, whereas one knows simply by looking at Melania that she remains perennially ready and willing to deliver to her chosen man.

Lost My Cookies said...

Obama smokes

Paul from Decatur, GA said...

POLITICO and the other ALL ANTI-TRUMP media will always find a negative angle. A day for them without such articles is worthless as to promoting their agenda. There is no longer any sense of proportion or decency in these media outlets. And so I myself now discount their material since is hasn't been true journalism for oh so long. Back in the early 60s, I took a course on Journalism in high school preparing to work on our school newspaper - what has happened to who, what, when, where, and how since then blows my mind. Take out all of the anonymous sources and unsubstantiated "possibilities" and there is no "there" there.

Kevin said...

Better clip of Bill Clinton out jogging with the Secret Service.

It not only includes Chris Rock as a cashier, but the immortal line: There's going to be a whole bunch of things we don't tell Mrs. Clinton. Fast food is the least of our worries!

Kevin said...

Obama smokes

Probably now more than ever.

David Begley said...

Is there anything else about Trump to pick on? How about a long piece on his hair?

Curious George said...

"But that appears in a paragraph in which a Harvard professor — from Harvard, not some red-state school — enthuses about how much these chubby folk could be helped if Trump took up even a modest fitness routine."

Imagine how fat we would be if the Hildabeast with her grey wrinkled elephant ass had won.

Humperdink said...

Age when taking office (+/- a few months):

Clinton 47
GW Bush 55
Obama 48
Trump 71

That might 'splain some it.

Darrell said...

Yeah, because they are concerned about his health and want him to live a long and prosperous life.
Eat what you want and die like a man, fuckers.

Dan in Philly said...

Alternate universe headline "Hillary bravely sacrifices health in service to her country."

Darrell said...

I was surprised and impressed that Trump could maintain the grueling campaign schedule he put himself through. At his age or twenty years younger.

Humperdink said...

Yep, I remember "Still Not President" Hillary being hauled across a sidewalk like a side of beef and tossed into a waiting limo. Picture of health as I recall.

Darrell said...

tossed into a waiting limo.

It was a black van. Much classier. . .

Humperdink said...

It was a black van. Much classier. . .

Yeah I forgot they used a van ..... much WIDER doors, allows for a broad entry.

TrespassersW said...

Random observations: Didn't Bill Clinton go on an almost-if-not-completely vegetarian diet after his bypass surgery? Whatever he's eating nowadays, or doing for exercise, it ain't doing him a lick of good. He looks ghastly in the most recent pics of him that I've seen.

GW Bush, on the other hand, looks pretty fit.

Obama aged while in office--much greyer hair, and lined face--but otherwise doesn't look too bad.

Yes, Trump is heavy, but he appears energetic in all the video I've seen. (Granted, I don't watch hours of footage.)

gspencer said...

Eat well.

Stay fit.

Die anyway.

clint said...

"1. Other modern American problems..."

Awesome Freudian slip.

On topic, isn't it odd that the same people who told us Hillary Clinton's health was a non-issue are suddenly very interested in President Trump's health?

Ann Althouse said...

@Gordon Pasha Thanks for bringing that up. I took the list of drugs from the article I linked to, but with your prompting, I remembered reading this in Robert A. Caro's "Passage of Power":

"In 1949... a new drug, cortisone, would prove to be a “miracle drug” for Addison’s: thereafter, every three months 150-milligram pellets, first of cortisone and later of corticosteroid, a cortisone derivative, were implanted in his thighs, and he took 25 milligrams orally every day; his weight became normal at last, and from that time on, the abdominal symptoms didn’t bother him as much. Cortisone gave him, as a friend wrote, “a whole new lease on life.”"

Caro, Robert A.. The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson IV (Kindle Locations 1292-1295). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Ann Althouse said...

"Is this what's left to them after the collusion with Russia effort failed? Bullying Trump about his weight?"

I thought I'd noticed that the NYT was cuing up civilian deaths from military bombing.

Ann Althouse said...

We were never even told what Hillary weighed.

Birkel said...

Hillary weighed next to nothing. She floated into that van. Like Mary Poppins.

Ralph L said...

Don't forget the armies of homeless reforming as we speak.

JFK also had gonorrhea that hadn't been cured. According to Hersh, he was given antibiotics and prostate massages. And there were the amphetamines from Dr. Feel Good.

Ralph L said...

We were never even told what Hillary weighed
With or without the Clinton Baggage?

Laslo Spatula said...

"But you might still say he was interested in his health, and yet if he was so interested, why was he bent on riding in a convertible when, as President, he was a target for assassination?"

Getting your head blown off is a horrible way to lose weight.

I am Laslo.

Jersey Fled said...

Clinton had how many heart attacks by the time he was Trump's current age? And doesn't he look and sound much older than Trump despite being a year younger?

But then again, Trump married much better.

Darrell said...

It was a brutally hot day that 9/11. Over 60 degrees F, if I recall. And her double was over at Chelsea's place, so she could meet with a little girl later on the street, without Secret Service protection.

Darrell said...

Has Trump ever proved that he could open up a pre-opened jar of pickles without throwing it against a wall? Huh?

Kevin said...

I thought I'd noticed that the NYT was cuing up civilian deaths from military bombing.

Got to get the old GWB spreadsheets out of mothballs now that Obama's out of office.

wild chicken said...

I like that Trump is not so health-obsessed. Rather selfless of him. As it's been said, we don't know if a rigorous regimen would make any difference at this point anyway. Some men just got it.

All hail Pesident Dad-bod.

rehajm said...

Cindy Sheehan, call your agent.

Sebastian said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sebastian said...

"Trump might be very interested in his health, but just not into the JFK-style political showbiz of exercising for the camera. But JFK did that because he was so unhealthy. It was propaganda!" You are right, of course, but anything and everything is now peddled to serve The Narrative. Trump doesn't smoke and doesn't drink, unlike O. When W went on a health binge, the MSM didn't go gaga. Billy Jeff cared only about one kind of health, but it didn't hurt him. And you are right again that we were never told Hill's weight (but we could guess). It's almost as if there's a pattern to MSM "reporting."

Interestingly, the supposed reality-TV presidency may peddle less propaganda than any previous Dem regime.

Ralph L said...

The Arkansas troopers reported that Bill would add "sweat" to his sweatshirt before returning from a Flowers rendezvous.

Comanche Voter said...

Well the Trumpster is vigorous. And he's got a body mass index of "close to obese"==which sort of puts him right there in mainstream America.

But he really ought to do something about that dead raccoon on his head. Still you go with what you got. And Hillary is not President of the United States, so there is that to rejoice about.

Birches said...

This comment thread is hilarious. I love that Clinton Snl skit, it's one of my favorites.

Hari said...

Donald Trump is 70. By the time Bill Clinton was 58 (in 2005) he had already had quintuple bypass surgery.

Kathryn51 said...

I also remember how Al Gore put on a ton of weight at a "certain age" (although I don't know the exact age).

holdfast said...

Candidate Hillary Clinton campaigned in a van that was essentially a camouflaged ambulance. I guess she was "interested" in her health too.

Obama had the lean physique of the typical cokehead who hits the gym once a weak. A straight-up Cake Boy, as Sir Mix A Lot sang, on the little known B-side to his most famous single.

W carries a few extra pounds, but given his biking and ranching, I bet he's got wicked cardio. Bubba looks like shit nowadays - he's the thin of a guy who isn't permitted to eat anything he actually likes.

Titus said...

Trump is fat and red state people are fatter.

What is the big deal?

Celebrate your fatness fatties.

Fatties are gross. When I see a fat guy all I can think is that he can't even see his own cock. And if he is partnered his spouse can't see it either. Unacceptable.

Titus said...

Hillary was fat too. She couldn't see her own pussy.

mccullough said...

Trump and Hillary are fat and old. So age and weight weren't an issue in the campaign

Michael K said...

he is five pounds shy of obese under the body mass index. By any measure, America’s president is overweight...."

He could get into the Army with that BMI.

This is the best thread in weeks. I was giggling all through as I read it.

Good work, guys.

Unknown said...

"The red states that went for Trump tend to have higher rates of obesity, sedentary lifestyles and even shorter lifespans...."

Of course! Wisconsin went for Trump. We have an explanation for the phenomenon discussed in the July 11 post. “The men were the worst, in flip flops, unsightly shorts or ill-fitting jeans, and untucked shirts (usually hanging over big bellies).”

Unknown said...

"Hillary weighed next to nothing. She floated into that van. Like Mary Poppins."

Trump outweighs her by at least 100 pounds. His ass and belly make a great picture as he's swinging his gold club.

Unknown said...

Gold golf club, yep.

Unknown said...

To be fair, here is a pic of Trump in his more slender days, playing tennis.

Anthony said...

It's simply impossible to even satirize the MSM anymore. I mean, I kind of used to think that the old joke about W walking on water leading to the NYT headline of "Bush Can't Swim" was just a funny parody.

I mean, how can they not see themselves as hopeless idiotic tools? Are they that clueless or that clever?

holdfast said...

Oh, and the BMI is stupid. Muscle-building gym monkeys get classified as obese.

Unknown said...

W was quite fit (and still is). But I seem to recall a reporter or two damning him with faint praise regarding his running, something to the effect that he could muster the effort to improve his time on his three mile run, but was lazy otherwise. Could it be a good thing that Trump isn't obsessive about this?

Joseph W. said...

I seem to remember stories about Dan Quayle would be followed by George H.W. Bush ostentatiously jogging and looking as fit as possible.

Meade said...

One problem with excess body fat for a man is that it is physiologically feminizing. It tends to decrease the man's testosterone levels, especially for a man of Trump's age. That often leads to loss of libido. Not good. Especially when he's married to a fit and healthy partner as it can lead to relationship stress and conflict.

After getting the okay from his doctor, Trump should start a strength and resistance training program to build muscle mass. Larger muscle fibers will consume excess adipose tissue as fuel. So his estrogen levels will go down, testosterone levels will go up, and his healthy attractive wife will be happier and more satisfied. He will then be more content and less likely to start world war three.

Using nothing more than his own body weight, I would recommend President Trump begin every other day with:

1 set of 5 squats
1 set of 5 lunges (each leg)
3 pushups
20 crunches

Slower is better. Aim for perfect form. Build from there.

Kelly said...

SNL had a funny skit with Clinton jogging to a McDonalds.

Meade said...

In 2 years, President Trump can be, if he chooses, even at age 70, as muscular, manly, and fit as Glenn Reynolds over at Instapundit. Now that is admittedly a high bar. But they both share a similar height and body meso-morphology. They also apparently share some Scottish ancestry.

Meade said...

They are also both married to extraordinarily attractive and lovely women. There will be no going on strike for those 2 men.

Michael K said...

"Muscle-building gym monkeys get classified as obese."

The military uses body fat for overweight.

His BMI is OK. The lefties just need something to talk about besides Russia.