President Donald Trump’s severely bruised and discolored right hand was on full display for global dignitaries and dinner guests on Thursday.
Trump held a state dinner for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in the State Dinner Room at the White House. It is Takaichi’s first official visit to Washington since becoming Japan’s first female prime minister last October.
Savvy AFP photographer Jim Watson captured the extent of the 79-year-old president’s bruising, which was attempted to be hidden with an industrial-strength coating of make-up.
Even the president’s usually good hand, his left, appeared discolored. On Monday, a brown bruise was spotted on Trump’s left hand during a lunch with Kennedy Center board members in the White House’s East Room.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
In January, Trump revealed the bruising was a side-effect of his habit of taking a higher dose of aspirin than doctors recommend.
The president downs 325 milligrams of aspirin daily, with the most common dose being 81 milligrams.
“They’d rather have me take the smaller one,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal. “I take the larger one, but I’ve done it for years, and what it does do is it causes bruising.”
Trump’s bruised hand was also evident when he met with Takaichi earlier on Thursday in the White House. The meeting was designed to strengthen the alliance between the U.S. and Japan.
It was during that meeting that Trump responded to a question about why he did not give his allies in Asia advance warning that he was planning his war on Iran.
“You don’t want to signal too much, you know?” Trump said. “Who knows better about surprise than Japan?
“Okay, why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor? You believe in surprise, I think much more so than us.”
In his January interview with the Journal, Trump admitted he applies his own concealer.
“I have makeup that’s, you know, easy to put on, takes about 10 seconds,” he said.
Trump’s speedy make-up skills were also evident when he met another world at the Oval Office.
The president on Tuesday welcomed Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin to the Oval Office for an appearance to commemorate St. Patrick’s Day.
The concealer on Trump’s hand was closer in color to his beloved gold photo frames and tacky trophies than his actual skin tone.
Trump’s problematic hand was not the only noticeable ailment during his Thursday meeting with Takaichi.
Photos from the Oval Office meeting revealed Trump’s swollen ankles, visible through his socks.
Last summer, the White House disclosed that Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a common condition where leg veins struggle to push blood back up to the heart.
Discussing his ankles, Trump told the Wall Street Journal he had tried compression socks to contain the swelling, but he “didn’t like them.”
Instead, he has been getting up from his desk and walking around more often.
The White House has previously referred to questions about Trump’s bulbous ankles by stating he is “the sharpest, most accessible, and energetic president in modern American history.”
