Donald Trump suffered a stroke several months ago and has kept it from the public, a prominent medical expert has suggested.
Professor Bruce Davidson of Washington State University’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine made the bombshell claim about the 79-year-old president’s health while laying out “lines of evidence supportive” that have also been reported on by the Daily Beast over the past year.
“I think his stroke was on the left side of the brain, which controls the right side of the body,” Davidson told biographer Sidney Blumenthal and Princeton historian Sean Wilentz on their podcast, The Court of History.
“I think the stroke was six months ago or more, earlier in 2025,” he continued. “There are videos of him shuffling his feet, which is not what we’d seen previously when he was striding on the golf course. We’ve seen him holding his right hand cradled in his left. Earlier in 2025, he was garbling words, which he hadn’t done before and which he’s improved upon more recently.”
Davidson also pointed to what he described as “marked episodes of excessive daytime sleepiness,” known medically as hypersomnolence, which he said is common among stroke patients. Trump is now routinely appearing to nod off in public appearances such as White House events.
He further suggested that footage showing Trump gingerly descending the steps of Air Force One while gripping the banister with his left hand, despite the president being right-handed, is “consistent with having had a stroke on the left side of the brain.”
Davidson did not specify what sort of stroke he believes the president may have suffered, but said if he is correct with his claim then it “looks like he’s had significant recovery.”
Speculation about the mental and physical decline of Trump, who is on track to become the oldest president in U.S. history, has circulated for months.
The president has frequently appeared in public with large, visible bruises on his hands, which he desperately attempts to conceal with blotches of makeup.
Trump has also taken steps to hide from public view his swollen cankles, a symptom of the medical condition chronic venous insufficiency, which the White House admitted the president had in July 2024.
Additional concerns were raised after Trump appeared at an event commemorating the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks with his face drooping to one side. Multiple social media users speculated at the time that the appearance could be a sign of a stroke, though no diagnosis has been confirmed.
In a candid interview with The Wall Street Journal published this month, Trump acknowledged several health issues and treatments, including briefly wearing compression socks to help manage swelling in his legs.
He also made the startling admission that he takes more aspirin than his doctors recommend for “cardiac prevention.” Trump and the White House have repeatedly attributed the unsightly bruising on the 79-year-old’s hands to his daily aspirin use, combined with his frequently shaking people’s hands.
Elsewhere during his podcast appearance, Davidson suggested that Trump’s erratic and aggressive governing style during his second term could also be consistent with post-stroke behavioral changes.
“It’s a very serious, concerning, life-threatening, upsetting, scary event, and people react in different ways,” Davidson said. “Some people respond with humility and gratitude. Others become euphoric—‘I was at the cliff of death, and now I’m back.’ And some think, ‘That was my chance to die, and I didn’t—so now I’m going to do everything I wanted to do, because the next one may be fatal.’”
In response, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Daily Beast: “As the President’s physician, Dr. Sean Barbabella, has made clear time and again—and as the American people see with their own eyes every single day—President Trump remains in excellent overall health.”
“President Trump’s relentless work ethic, unmatched energy, and historic accessibility stand in sharp contrast to what we saw during the past four years when the failing legacy media intentionally covered up Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people,” she continued. “Pushing these fake and desperate narratives now about President Trump is why Americans’ trust in the media just fell to a new all-time low.”
In a second statement from the White House, Leavitt said: “These allegations are absolute bulls--t and perhaps even slanderous. The individual making this false claim is a left-wing nut job and Democrat activist.”
The bruising on Trump’s hand first drew attention in February 2025, when the discoloration on his right hand peeked through a layer of makeup as he sat down for an Oval Office meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
When reached for comment at the time, Leavitt told the Daily Beast that “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. His commitment is unwavering and he proves that every single day.”
Months later, as questions persisted over the bruise, Leavitt read a note from Barbabella offering another explanation.
“Recent photos of the president have shown minor bruising on the back of his hand,” she said in a July press briefing. “This is consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin, which is taken as part of a standard cardiovascular prevention regime.”
In October, Barbabella issued another note stating that Trump underwent a “follow-up evaluation” to his annual physical exam in April.
The note, dated Oct. 10, mentioned that the aging president had undergone “advanced imaging” but did not specify details. Days later, Trump let slip that he got an MRI, claiming that it yielded “perfect” results.
The MRI saga took yet another turn earlier this month, when Trump and Barbabella revealed to the Journal that the advanced imaging he got wasn’t an MRI after all.
“It wasn’t an MRI,” Trump told the outlet. “It was less than that. It was a scan.” Barbabella added that it was done “to definitively rule out any cardiovascular issues” and that it did not reveal any abnormalities.
Trump said he regretted undergoing advanced imaging because it further fueled speculations about the state of his health.
“In retrospect, it’s too bad I took it because it gave them a little ammunition,” he said. “I would have been a lot better off if they didn’t, because the fact that I took it said, ‘Oh gee, is something wrong?’ Well, nothing’s wrong.”
