'Feeding curiosity cycle': Mystery bruise fuels new health questions for 79-year-old Trump
Fresh bruising on Donald Trump's left hand rekindled speculation about the 79-year-old president's health just shy of a year into his second term.
Trump appeared at multiple events last week sporting discoloration on the back of his left hand — adding to the persistent bruise already visible on his right hand for months, CNN reported Wednesday.
The new marks on the left hand fueled doubts about the White House's explanation that constant handshaking and regular aspirin use caused the bruising, as Trump is right-handed.
Doctors told CNN nothing stoked alarm about the bruises, as it's a common condition in older folks, but they blasted Trump's stonewalling on health transparency.
“They’re just feeding the curiosity cycle,” said Dr. Jeffrey Linder, chief of general internal medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “He’s in the public eye, he has a certain image he wants to portray, and even these minor things detract from that image.”
The bruises represent just the latest health curveball for a president who hammered Joe Biden, 83, over age and fitness during last year's campaign. Trump has maintained a packed schedule but faced his own questions after summer photos showed leg swelling, leading the White House to announce a chronic venous insufficiency diagnosis in July.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dodged new questions about the left-hand bruising.
“President Trump is a man of the people and he meets more Americans and shakes their hands on a daily basis than any other President in history,” she said.
Dr. Jonathan Reiner noted the bruising likely wasn't from handshaking and raised questions about whether Trump has fully disclosed all medications he takes.
“Bruising can be just simply a one-off thing when you have some trauma, you bump into something,” said Reiner, a professor at George Washington University’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and who was a longtime cardiologist for former Vice President Dick Cheney. “Aspirin will make you more prone to bleeding.”