President Donald Trump is making every effort to ensure Americans cannot see his bruised right hand.
On Tuesday, the White House posted a video of Trump promoting the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Innovative Housing Showcase to X. Throughout the video, Trump’s left hand covers his right one.
The persistent bruising on Trump’s right hand has led to questions about the president’s physical health, particularly after his recent brief absence from the public eye led some to wonder if he had died.
In July, Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, but the White House has maintained that the bruising on his hand, which has been present for months, is from “frequent handshaking” and aspirin use. At the time, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Daily Beast that the bruising “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.”
Just one month later, the White House issued a statement from disgraced former White House physician, and current MAGA congressman, Ronny Jackson that said Trump is “the healthiest president this nation has ever seen.”
Though it is not confirmed that the arrangement of Trump’s hands in the video is an intentional choice by The White House to obscure the bruising, such a move would be consistent with previous efforts to cover up the president’s physical ailments.
On numerous occasions, Trump has appeared in public with copious amounts of makeup on his right hand. Last Thursday, the president hid his hands under the tables at a dinner with prominent tech figures from Silicon Valley. In August, the White House posted photos of Trump with South Korean president Lee Jae Myung that conspicuously cropped out his cankles.
The Daily Beast has reached out to The White House for comment.
The 72-second clip of Trump posted by The White House today is intended to promote the HUD’s annual event celebrating housing initiatives in America. Trump boasted, “I’ve been a builder all my life” and claimed his administration is “unleashing incredible economic growth like this country has never seen before.”
The most recent jobs report shows the American unemployment rate at 4.3 percent, its highest number since April of 2021.
