Dick Cheney’s former physician thinks President Donald Trump’s tendency to fall asleep in a room full of people is “not normal.”
Dr. Jonathan Reiner, the former vice president’s longtime cardiologist, has become a prominent voice in the conversation about the president’s ailments, which are numerous and increasingly visible.
Aside from his bruised hands, cankles, and a mysterious rash on his neck, Trump has appeared to struggle to stay awake on numerous occasions. Reiner, cardiac laboratory director at George Washington University Hospital, highlighted footage on Thursday of the president dozing in the Oval Office, surrounded by his lackeys as they waxed lyrical about “Beautiful, Clean Coal.”
Reiner served as Cheney’s cardiologist for decades. The late vice president survived five heart attacks during his life—including his first at the age of 37.
The medicine professor was responding to a clip posted on X by independent journalist Aaron Rupar of Trump, 79, with his eyes shut as Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum prattled on about the work he was doing to classify the polluting fossil fuel as a critical mineral.
“Trump is struggling to stay conscious in the Oval Office yet again,” Rupar wrote.
Reiner agreed the president was snoozing, sharing the post with a warning.
“A glaring omission from the president’s recent physical examination is any mention of his sleep disorder,” the American College of Cardiology fellow said. “This is not normal.”
Following a visit to the Walter Reed Military Medical Center on May 26, Trump’s doctors released an extensive report containing various data points and summaries. Sleep was not mentioned, however.
His sleeping patterns have become a cause for concern in themselves, with his late-night Truth Social rampages suggesting he may not have slept through the night on 83 percent of days in April.
Last month, Reiner told CNN that Trump has “severe daytime somnolence,” which he classified as a “severe illness.”
Trump turns 80 on June 14, and as his suck-ups—including Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and EPA administrator Lee Zeldin—spoke, he started listing to starboard.
While Zeldin was attacking former President Joe Biden’s administration for trying to regulate what is largely regarded as the dirtiest fossil fuel, Trump slumped diagonally in his seat, taking long, luxurious binks and lolling his head around to look up periodically.
When Burgum spoke, Trump dozed in a different position, hunched forward over his desk, hands in his lap, eyes firmly shut, even as the 69-year-old did a big boot-lick by thanking Trump for opening the door to more coal trade.
Trump used Cold War-era emergency powers to direct millions of dollars to U.S. coal power plants and exports to Asia. It ushered in $425 million in upgrades for 13 coal-fired power plants and $75 million supporting Oakland’s West Gateway coal terminal.
To do so, he invoked the 1950 Defense Production Act, which gives the president broad authority over industries deemed vital to national security, Reuters reports.
The Daily Beast has long sounded the alarm over the near octogenarian’s many ailments, and now the rest of the nation appears to be taking notice as the worrying incidents mount up.
He vanished for a week following his third trip to Walter Reed in 13 months last month, raising fears that something serious might have been at hand.
The White House tried to brush off the incident, arguing that he is in rude health for a man of his age.
His physician, Dr. Sean Barbabella, released a memo that revealed Trump weighed in at 238 pounds, which is 14 pounds more than the year before, and that his resting heart rate had increased from 62 to 73 beats a minute.
“The president remains up to date on all appropriate preventive screenings and immunizations,” said Barbabella. “Routine cancer screenings, cardiovascular risk assessment, and metabolic evaluations are current and within recommended intervals. Preventive counseling was provided, including guidance on diet, recommendation to take a low-dose aspirin, increased physical activity, and continued weight loss.”
Reiner, however, harbored concerns afterward.
“With lingering concerns following the president’s recent physical exam, and the president’s prolonged absence from the public eye, the White House should make available the president’s physician to answer questions from the press,” he said.
The White House was combative in response to the demand.
“If it quacks like a duck, it may actually just be a Democrat hack doctor,” spokesman Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast. “President Trump is the sharpest, most accessible, and energetic president in American history and any so-called medical professionals engaging in armchair diagnosis or false speculation for political purposes are clearly breaking the Hippocratic Oath they’ve sworn to.”
Previously reached for comment about Trump’s big snooze in front of Burgum and co, Ingle told the Daily Beast: “President Trump is the sharpest, most accessible, and energetic president in American history. While the deranged and failing Daily Beast has their lightweight, glue-sniffing ‘reporters’ push baseless conspiracy theories — President Trump is working around the clock to make our country greater than ever before.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House regarding Reiner’s latest comments.
