A longtime trauma surgeon says it was no surprise that President Donald Trump called off a planned trip to Kansas. She argued the signs were visible at his recent rallies.
“He was glitching through the last two rallies,” wrote Dr. Diana Contini, a physician and professor who says she has practiced as a trauma surgeon for more than 40 years. “His frontotemporal damage has worsened. It was obvious that he would cancel.”
Contini, who has not examined Trump, made the comments on X Thursday in response to a viral C-SPAN clip. In the clip, a reporter asked Trump on the tarmac whether “not going to Kansas has nothing to do with you being sick of travel.”
Trump erupted.
“You’re sick to ask that question. You are sick… I don’t feel I have to go to Kansas… I feel perfect,” the president said. “You are disgusting. Put yourself in shape. You look like hell!”
Contini was responding to a Trump supporter who mocked the reporter’s weight and wrote that Trump “had every right to call him out.”
“Wasn’t a stupid question,” Contini wrote, adding that Trump “himself is about 80 lbs overweight.” She also called his supporters “MAGA mental midgets."
Contini’s account identifies her as a trauma surgeon, professor and the widow of a Marine Corps general, and says she has voted for Democrats since 1971.
Tom Nichols, a staff writer at The Atlantic and a former professor at the U.S. Naval War College, offered a few possible explanations for the canceled trip. “It could be a health issue; it could also be that he doesn’t want to be the closer for losses,” wrote Nichols, who is not a medical professional. “It could also be that he’s just breaking under the strain of a midterm trend that he is taking on as a narcissistic injury.”
Frontotemporal dementia is a progressive brain disorder that can affect behavior, personality and language. Trump has not been diagnosed with any such condition, and the White House has repeatedly said he is in excellent health. Trump, 80, is the oldest person ever elected president.