© EPA/ AARON SCHWARTZ / POOL The US President asserts he doesn’t get much sleep.
Dozing or uninterested? According to Reuters, it’s a matter of perspective for US President Donald Trump. On Thursday, Trump stated he wasn’t sleeping, but rather felt bored during a cabinet meeting in December, explaining his prolonged closed eyes.
“Some individuals mentioned he had his eyes closed. Frankly, it became quite dull in there. I wasn’t sleeping. I merely shut them because I wanted to be anywhere else,” Trump declared, while addressing amused officials in the White House Cabinet Room.
He continued, “I didn’t doze off, by the way. I rarely sleep for extended periods.”
Trump conveyed these remarks during the airing of an 81-minute cabinet gathering, which he shortened compared to its usual iteration – omitting presentations from multiple officials and the customary Q&A with journalists regarding the day’s occurrences.
At 79 and in his concluding presidential term, Trump has aimed to alleviate anxieties surrounding his vigor. He has routinely underscored his robust cognitive state, directed aides to publicize additional engagements on his agenda, and occasionally joked about pursuing a third term — regardless of constitutional limitations.
In prior administrations, cabinet meetings were generally unexciting and received minimal coverage. Under Trump, they have transformed into a platform where the president and his team disseminate achievements they believe the media undervalues.
In one instance last year, such a meeting extended for over three hours live — marking the president’s most prolonged uninterrupted appearance on television cameras throughout his entire public life.
The Republican president has been observed repeatedly with his eyes shut during these and other public occasions.
Trump isn’t the pioneering president forced to rebuff inquiries about endurance. Ronald Reagan’s press secretary, Marlin Fitzwater, was similarly prompted in the 1980s to elucidate why the Cold War-era president, in his 70s, appeared to be napping in public.
Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, abandoned his ambition for the 2024 election after voters and certain Democrats expressed reservations concerning the physical well-being of the then-81-year-old president. Trump consistently labels his former adversary “Sleepy Joe” and even displayed a sign in the White House suggesting that Biden governed the nation with a fountain pen.
Trump holds the distinction of being the most senior individual ever inaugurated as US president.
He travels, publishes on social platforms, and engages with the media much more energetically than Biden did. Simultaneously, concerns about Trump’s health linger, encompassing self-reported medical assessments and contusions on his hands.
The White House asserts that these evaluations were preventative and demonstrated the president’s cardiovascular system to be in good order. The bruises, occasionally concealed with makeup, are attributed to his regular usage of aspirin as a prophylactic against cardiovascular ailments.