A cardiac expert has questioned Donald Trump’s health regimen after the president admitted to taking a higher dose of aspirin than his own doctor said was necessary.
A gnarly new bruise appeared on Trump’s left hand on Thursday, but the 79-year-old president told reporters that he was feeling “very good” and insisted he had simply “clipped” the hand.
Trump claimed that he bruises more easily due to his unusual aspirin routine, which, apparently, is stronger than what his doctor thinks he needs.
“I would say, take aspirin if you like your heart, but don’t take aspirin if you don’t want to have a little bruising,” he told reporters while flying home from Davos, Switzerland, on Air Force One.
“I take the big aspirin, and when you take the big aspirin, they tell you you’ll bruise. The doctor said: ‘You don’t have to take that, sir, you’re very healthy’. I said I’m not taking any chances.”
But Dr. Jonathan Reiner, cardiologist to the late former Vice President Dick Cheney, wrote on X that Trump’s explanation “Makes no sense.”
“Why would you continue to take a higher dose of aspirin than your doctor recommends if you’re bruising excessively?” asked Reiner, who is a professor at George Washington University and a CNN medical analyst.
When reached for comment, White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told the Daily Beast in a statement, “The President answered this question on Air Force One – you would think a so-called ‘doctor’ would have better listening skills. Unfortunately, extreme cases of Trump Derangement Syndrome have severe side effects, such as loss of common sense, for liberal activists like Jonathan Reiner. President Trump’s excellent doctors have repeatedly affirmed that he is in perfect health.”
Trump’s doctor, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella told The Wall Street Journal earlier this month that Trump takes 325 milligrams of aspirin a day—much higher than the low-dose (81mg) often recommended for heart health.
Trump said he declined to switch because he has been taking the higher dose for 25 years.
“I’m a little superstitious,” he remarked. “They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don’t want thick blood pouring through my heart. I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart. Does that make sense?”
In response, Reiner said at the time that while aspirin therapy was long used to prevent heart attacks, “we’ve learned in recent years that, particularly for people over the age of 70,″ aspirin can be a “hazard” while providing “no benefit.”
“The hazard can be bleeding, significant bleeding,” he said.
Earlier on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt explained that the bruising on Trump’s left hand stemmed from him hitting it on the signing table during a Board of Peace event in Davos.
She had long attributed Trump’s recurring bruises on his right hand to his aspirin use as well as vigorous handshaking. But her handshake defense began to lose credibility in December, when the right-handed president’s left hand began showing discoloration as well.
