Donald Trump’s makeup-slathered hand was on full display Thursday in Texas ahead of his campaign stops in that state and Oklahoma.
Trump, 80, got off Air Force One and spoke to reporters while flanked by lawmakers from both states.
Trump talked about his speech later that night in Oklahoma, saying it would be about “how well we are doing.” Republicans, he insisted, have done a “bad public relations job, but a great management job” ahead of the midterms. The GOP is heavily favored to lose the House, and possibly the Senate as well, as polling shows the party being outmatched by Democrats on the economy.
Trump himself just received the highest disapproval rating of his second term: 61 percent, according to an Angus Reid USA survey.
As Trump spoke, Getty photographer Kent Nishimura zoomed in on his right hand, which looked like it had just received a fresh coat.
The makeup job is to conceal the frequent bruising on the top of that hand, which the White House says is a consequence of the president’s handshaking and his aspirin use. Trump has been taking a higher-than-recommended dosage—325 milligrams daily—for the last 25 years because he wants to keep his blood thin.
“I’m a little superstitious,” he told The Wall Street Journal at the beginning of the year. “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?”
But this explanation hasn’t flown with some doctors, who have advised Trump to lower the amount.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but has previously claimed that 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.”
Trump also has chronic veneous insufficiency (CVI), a condition common in seniors which makes it difficult for blood in the legs to return to the heart. In Trump’s case, one symptom is swelling in his feet and ankles.
Trump tried wearing compression socks, he told the Journal, but gave it up because he “didn’t like them.” Instead, he has tried to walk around a bit more to reduce the swelling. Anything more seems unlikely.
“To walk on a treadmill or run on a treadmill for hours and hours like some people do, that’s not for me,” he said.
