Trump posts doctor note claiming he’s lost weight as Biden marks 81st birthday

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Donald Trump is in “excellent” health, according to a note he shared on Monday on social media, as both he and his potential 2024 opponent Joe Biden face continued questions about their age and mental fitness for the White House.

“I am pleased to report that President Trump’s overall health is excellent,” the former president’s physician, Bruce Aronwald, wrote in a letter Mr Trump shared on Truth Social. “His physical exams were well within the normal range and his cognitive exams were exceptional.”

The letter added that Mr Trump was showing improved results on certain tests, likely because of “weight reduction.”

“President Trump has reduced his weight through an improved diet and continued daily physical activity, while maintaining a rigorous schedule,” the doctor said.

The release comes the same day that Mr Biden turns 81. When he took office in 2020, he became the oldest president in US history, topping the record from his predecessor.

Both Mr Trump and Mr Biden have faced attacks over their age, sometimes from each other, and sometimes from members of their party.

At an event in October, echoing a common conservative attack line on the president, Mr Trump claimed Mr Biden “can’t put two sentences together and he’s in charge of nuclear warfare.”

He also mocked Mr Biden’s recent falls while on various presidential engagements.

“I see a stairway there, I see a stairway there. If I had to, I’d jump right off this front end thing — we could make it, it’s about four feet,’ he said at the event.

Mr Trump has also faced a similar line of criticism.

The campaign of Florida governor Ron DeSantis even launched an “accident tracker” to catalogue the former president’s various gaffes.

"This is a different Donald Trump than 2015 and ‘16 — lost the zip on his fastball," Mr DeSantis told reporters during a visit to New Hampshire earlier this month.

Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, meanwhile, has called for mental competency tests for politicians over 75.

As The Independent has reported, a wide array of voters have doubts about Mr Biden’s age and re-election campaign.

An estimated 77 per cent of Americans think he’s too old to run again.

On his most recent physical, Mr Biden was listed as generally healthy, though he has slightly elevated blood pressure and a “stiffened gait.”

Some critics argue that the political dominance of White House by the Baby Boomber generation for the last three decades has led to a narrowing of political priorities.

“We’ve had 28 years of boomer presidency in a row,” Kevin Munger, author of Generation Gap: Why the Baby Boomers Still Dominate American Politics and Culture, told The Independent earlier this year. “That streak was only ended by Joe Biden, who is technically too old to be a boomer by two years. That is unprecedented for a single generation.”

“The issues that matter to younger generations don’t get on the agenda at all,” Prof Munger added.