Trump Struggles To Come Up With ‘Alzheimer’s’ To Describe Father’s Illness: ‘I Don’t Have It’

AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

During a recent interview, President Donald Trump could not come up with the word “Alzheimer’s” when recalling how the disease afflicted his father.

On Monday, New York magazine published interviews with Trump and administration officials who boasted about the health of the 79-year-old president, who in recent months has appeared to doze off during public appearances and has been seen with swollen ankles and bruises on his hands.

New York magazine’s Ben Terris, who conducted the interviews, quoted one White House physician assistant as claiming that Trump is healthier than former President Barack Obama.

Terris cited a senior White House official who said Trump has been sharing anecdotes about his late father, Fred Trump, who died in 1999 at age 93.

“He had an expression that I always remember,” the president told Terris. “‘To retire is to expire.’”

Terris went on to describe Trump discussing his father’s relatively malady-free life until the elder Trump was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s – except the president needed an assist from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to come up with the word:

Fred Trump died in 1999 at age 93. He had, Trump said, a “heart that couldn’t be stopped” with almost no health conditions to speak of throughout his long life. “He had one problem,” Trump said. “At a certain age, about 86, 87, he started getting, what do they call it?” He pointed to his forehead and looked to his press secretary for the word that escaped him.

“Alzheimer’s,” Leavitt said.

“Like an Alzheimer’s thing,” Trump said. “Well, I don’t have it.”

“Is it something you think about at all?” I asked.

“No, I don’t think about it at all. You know why?” he said. “Because whatever it is, my attitude is whatever.”

Elsewhere in the New York piece, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said of Trump, “The guy is too healthy.”

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!