Ewan Gleadow

Ewan Gleadow is a breaking news reporter for Raw Story based in the United Kingdom. He previously worked for The Daily Mirror and its sister site, The Mirror US. He also runs the music and culture website, Cult Following.

Trump's boast backfires as medical expert points out mental and physical side effects

The administration backing Donald Trump may boast about his energy levels but it does not change his ailing health, a medical professional has said.

The president said just last week that he does not "sleep much" while Vice President JD Vance says other staffers struggle to keep up with the amount Trump works. Vance said that a 20-hour trip will see little in the way of sleep for the president or his team and that "if he's not sleeping, if he's working, he expects everybody else to be working too."

While this boast from the admin is made to make Trump look busy and healthy in the face of growing concerns over his health, Dr Ritz Birah has told The Mirror US that the president is far from spritely.

Seven to nine hours of sleep a night is the recommended amount "to support optimal brain function, emotional regulation and physical health" in someone Trump's age. The 79-year-old Commander in Chief has had his admin back the "off the charts" energy levels, but that is not a sign of good health, Dr Birah says.

"In the short term, insufficient sleep reliably affects attention, working memory, impulse control and decision-making," he said. "From a psychological standpoint, this means the brain becomes more reactive, less flexible and more prone to errors in judgment.

"Emotional regulation is also impaired, with increased irritability, reduced tolerance for stress and a greater likelihood of threat-based thinking. These effects are well documented, even when individuals subjectively feel alert or energised."

Further problems can be associated with a potential "sleep debt" Trump is paying, catching up on missed hours of rest through the day. Sleep debt has been associated with an "increased risk of cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, mood disturbance and cognitive decline".

Trump last year declared he had passed a cognitive test with flying colors and also confirmed he had been taking aspirin against his doctor's orders.

In an interview with NBC, Trump confirmed he is still taking aspirin and "I don't want to change". He added, "I want that blood to be nice and thin running through my heart."

Trump runs risk of 'devastating' GOP's midterm chances with new military conflict

Donald Trump could sink the GOP's midterm chances even further should he take military action in Iran.

Whether the president does so is yet to be seen, but CNN political analyst Stephen Collinson believes the administration may take action. It would follow strikes made last year on Iran, and could plunge the US into a war with the potential to go wrong enough that it would affect the voting intention at home.

Collinson wrote, "Iran, the seat of the ancient Persian civilization, is more contiguous and less plagued by sectarian divides than Iraq — which splintered after the US invasion in 2003. But no one wants to test the impact of a power vacuum if the government falls, in the absence of any clear path to a return to democracy.

"And the short, sharp thunderclap strike of the type Trump prefers and that doesn’t conflict with the no-foreign-quagmires mantra of his MAGA movement may not be sufficient to topple the clerical regime in Tehran.

"But a longer military engagement with uncertain consequences would severely test Americans’ trust in their president. A war that went wrong could devastate Republicans in November’s already unpromising midterm elections."

Trump may also be bolstered by his administration's recent activities in Venezuela. Collinson added, "A sense of hubris has gathered around the White House since the toppling of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro last month.

"But major US combat deaths in an Iranian war could effectively drain all the power and legitimacy from Trump’s second term."

Part of the problem too, Collinson says, is that Trump has no problem in kindling a counter protest in Iran.

"Trump’s predecessors avoiding encouraging a counter-revolution in Iran because they feared providing a pretext for even more fierce repression against demonstrators seen as US proxies," he wrote.

"Trump had no such qualms and his vow that the US was “locked and loaded” to punish Tehran for its crackdowns conceivably brought more people onto the streets.

"One option for Trump would be to ink a rudimentary deal and hype it as a great victory — the great salesman’s certainly done this before.

This might placate war-weary US voters, but it would send a clear message of a climbdown to US adversaries and tarnish his global strongman aura."

Trump could be preparing 'tacky MAGA horror show' for end of his presidency: analysis

Donald Trump could be planning a major, MAGA-themed blowout for the final year of his presidency, a political analyst has claimed.

Whether the president makes the most of his last year in office in 2028 is yet to be seen, but Slate columnist Justin Peters thinks Trump could pull out all the stops with a garish display. With both the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics set to take place in the US, the president could be testing the waters of how MAGA will look on the world stage.

The 2028 Olympic Games, which will be hosted in Los Angeles, will be a chance for Trump to throw his weight around one last time, according to Peters. He wrote, "What I’m saying is that Donald Trump probably can’t ruin the Olympics—or at least he can’t ruin these Olympics.

"Once the 2026 Winter Games conclude, the global sporteaucracy will set its sights on the 2028 Los Angeles Games, which will be held in the final year of Trump’s second presidential term. There is every reason to think that Trump will go out of his way to ensure that those Olympics are a tacky MAGA horror show made in his own image."

Financial strains could be a part of that power play too, with the United Nations announcing it is on the brink of insolvency due to unpaid US debts. $2.2billion in debt is yet to be repaid and will likely remain unpaid, with the International Olympic Committee potentially collapsing as part of the UN's announcement.

Peters added, "But that dark day is still a couple of years away, and there’s little point in worrying about the prospect of Olympic medals minted with Charlie Kirk’s face on them.

"For now, there are plenty of more pressing problems for us to freak out about all day, every day. But I hope you’ll forgive me if I’m not thinking about any of that while I’m watching the luge.

"The Olympics are quaint in the best way, insofar as they are the sort of well-meaning project that people like Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin would never, ever come up with on their own. They are the least terrible, still objectively bad thing we’ve got going right now. That’s something, at least."

Bush White House cardiologist flags new Trump health claim oddity: 'This makes no sense'

A former White House cardiologist believes a recent health claim made by Donald Trump has little grounding in fact.

Jonathan Reiner, the former doctor to Vice President Dick Cheney, responded to a claim made by the 47th POTUS that he takes aspirin against his doctor's orders. In an interview with NBC, Trump confirmed he is still taking aspirin and "I don't want to change". He added, "I want that blood to be nice and thin running through my heart."

Reiner, director of the cardiac catheterization laboratory at The George Washington University Hospital, has since shared that Trump's logic here makes little sense.

In a post to X, he wrote, "This still makes no sense." Earlier this year, Reiner suggested he is concerned about the president's health, and not just because of the aspirin intake. Speaking to The Lead host Phil Mattingly, Reiner says the public has received almost no "meaningful" information on Trump's health.

In summer 2025, Trump had swollen ankles and another series of tests were conducted to check in on the president's health. Cognitive tests were also carried out on the president across 2025.

Reiner said at the time, "Now we learn the president didn't have an MRI. He actually had a CT scan, which explains why the president's physician didn't describe the test after the president disclosed his MRI, because he didn't have an MRI."

Reiner would also comment on Trump's use of aspirin as making "no sense". He said, "It's not like changing something from gumbo to chicken soup."

The former White House cardiologist has since called for an inquiry into Trump's mental fitness, with Reiner suggesting the president's reaction to not winning the Nobel Peace Prize is ground for an investigation.

He wrote at the time, "This letter, and the fact that the president directed that it be distributed to other European countries, should trigger a bipartisan congressional inquiry into presidential fitness."

The letter had been written by Trump and sent to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, where the president told Norway he no longer felt "an obligation to think purely of peace" when it came to the country.

GOP lost Texas seat because 'people are getting sick' of one MAGA priority: columnist

Republican Party representatives misread the Texas Senate election according to a political analysist who says one issue was an overstep from the party.

Democrat Taylor Rehmet would go on to defeat Republican Leigh Wambsganss in the special election for the Texas state senate position. It was a shock result considering Donald Trump had carried it by 17% in the 2024 election. But just two years later there has been a 31% swing away from the GOP to Democratic Party candidate Rehmet.

The reason for this may be a subtle one, according to Salon columnist Amanda Marcotte. She wrote, "There are strong signs that Rehmet won in no small part because suburban Fort Worth has long been on the frontline in the culture war over book banning.

"Wambsganss built her political career advocating for strict censorship in schools and libraries, and her loss signals that, even in this very conservative district, people are getting sick of the far-right telling them what they cannot read."

Librarians from the area where Rehmet won the election also considered the effects of Wambsganss' rhetoric over reading. Audrey Wilson-Youngblood said a "huge swath of pro-book banning candidates" were elected to the school board, and that those in the area were growing tired of their choices.

Wambsganss made no secret of her thoughts on arguing for certain books to be banned. In 2022, she said all books with LGBTQ+ characters should be banned because it is "normalizing a lifestyle that is a sexual choice".

Marcotte went on to suggest there are lessons here for the Democratic Party to take into account against their GOP opponents across the country.

She wrote, "Rehmet’s win shows that, at least in some places, MAGA’s threats to peace and freedom on the local level remain a pressing concern. A lot of voters want the culture war chaos to go away, especially when it comes to schools, so the kids can concentrate on learning.

"In many places, Democrats can win with a message of protecting the right of kids to learn in peace, instead of being the targets of a mind control project run by Bible-thumpers. If it worked in suburban Fort Worth, it’s a strategy that could rack up Democratic wins in other red districts."

'There'll be drama': Republican split expected on bill that could freeze out some voters

A bill set to be presented to the House of Representatives could freeze out military members stationed overseas from voting in elections.

Exceptions in the bill do address these concerns, according to co-author Chip Roy (R-Texas), but proponents are calling for some tighter definitions when it comes to defining who can and cannot vote.

Roy believes this will not be an issue and that "true absentee ballots" would be allowed, and said he is keen to get the bill in front of Donald Trump to have it signed into law.

He told Politico, "They get on the Senate floor, they can call the question, if there are people willing to speak … there’ll be drama, and then we’ll see what happens. We’ll see who wins, but that’s what we’re supposed to do."

It could be a bill the president approves of quickly, with Trump airing his dislike for mail-in ballots in the past. He once called mail-in ballots "corrupt" and in recent days has called on an effort for the Republican Party to "nationalize" voting in 15 unnamed states.

He said, "The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over. We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many — 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting."

Trump's call for a political party to control the election cycle comes not long after administration officials made moves to exert more control on the process.

He added, "If Republicans don’t get them out, you will never win another election as a Republican. It’s crazy how you can get these people to vote. If we don’t get them out, look, Republicans will never win another election."

Voter ID has also been a target of Trump's rhetoric, with the president saying he "ought to pass" the SAVE America Act.

He said, "Our elections are crooked as hell, and you can win — not only win elections over that and not only win future elections, but you’ll win every debate because the public is really angry about it."

Jimmy Kimmel rips into 'dumb and embarrassing' Trump over disastrous NBC interview

Jimmy Kimmel has torn into Donald Trump after the president's NBC interview, where the president refused to rule out a third term in office.

Talk show host Kimmel highlighted the many shortcomings of the president from the interview, including a comment on how the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti were deemed "bad publicity" for the government by Trump. Speaking during the opening monologue of his talk show, Kimmel highlighted a handful of tough moments from the president in the sit down with NBC.

Kimmel said, "Trump believes that, ultimately, what we have here is a simple failure in communicating. That's the real tragedy, the impact on publicity. Nobody ever talks about the tens of thousands of people we don't murder at these protests.

"Trump said so many dumb and embarrassing things during the interview, he may have to sue himself for another $10billion dollars. The good news is we only have three more years of this left."

A clip of Trump refusing to rule out being president in 2029 then played, where the president says it would be "less exciting" if people knew whether he would run for a third term.

Kimmel added, "I feel like I speak for the vast majority of Americans when I say we are ready for our lives to be so much less exciting. I think we would enjoy living in a country where we don't all feel like being on the back of the bus from Speed morning, noon, and night."

The family of Renee Good, who was shot and killed last month by an ICE agent, have since criticized the government. Her brother, Luke Ganger, said, "The deep distress our family feels because of (Renee’s) loss in such a violent and unnecessary way is complicated by feelings of disbelief, distress and desperation for change."

"The completely surreal scenes taking place on the streets of Minneapolis are beyond explanation," he added. "This is not just a bad day or a rough week or isolated incidents — these encounters with federal agents are changing the community and changing many lives, including ours, forever.”

Trump 'fears losing power' and is now 'more dangerous' because of it: analysis

Donald Trump's grip on power could be slipping and that makes him much more dangerous, according to a political analyst.

The president has thrown his weight around when it comes to Greenland, Venezuela, and recently suggested the Republican Party should assume control of election cycles in 15 states. This, among other reasons, makes it a troubling development according to Salon writer Chauncey DeVega.

She wrote, "Like other autocrats and aspiring dictators, Trump’s escalating behavior reflects not absolute strength and power but a deep-seated fear that he may instead lose it. This makes the president and the MAGA movement all more dangerous.

" Trump, his MAGA Republicans and their allies control every organ of state power, and they will continue to use it to their own corrupt ends.

"In most serious political fights or other types of battle, the other side usually gets a say in the outcome. Pro-democracy Americans are being reminded of that reality as their hopes for a cowed Trump and an easy victory dissolve."

The power shift could be further fueled by off-year election cycles and the upcoming midterms, which many are predicting will wipe the Republican Party majority in the Senate.

DeVega added, "Democrats continue to defeat Republican incumbents in off-year and special elections. Most recently, in Saturday’s special election in North Texas’s 9th District, Democratic candidate Taylor Rehmet defeated Leigh Wambsganss by 14 points. A blue wave in the November midterms appears increasingly likely — assuming elections remain reasonably free and fair."

Trump's looser grip on power had been profiled by Stephen Collinson earlier this week, with the president seemingly worried by dwindling polling numbers.

CNN analyst Collinson believes the recent Texas election result will have Trump fretting despite his complete control over an administration team filled with true believers.

Collinson wrote, "He showed yet again Monday he’s obsessing about the midterm elections — two days after a Democratic upset in a reliably Republican state Senate district in Texas offered another ominous sign for the GOP in November."

GOP lawmakers secretly predict a huge 'blue wave' in midterms: 'We're on the defense'

GOP lawmakers believe a blue wave is on the way but what they do not know yet is how high the wave will be.

Speaking anonymously, a collection of Republican Party members believe they are set for a rough time in the midterms, irrespective of voter turnout. History has shown the party in opposition can make major gains against the party in power, as was the case for the Senate majority flip to Democrats in 2006.

"There’s going to be a blue wave," one anonymous GOP rep told The Hill. "If there was a Democrat in power, there’d be a red wave. It’s the major of midterms.

"The question is it going to be 2 feet, 5 feet or higher than that. It’s still too early to predict what’s going to happen, but clearly we’re more on the defense."

Another unnamed lawmaker believes the party can already feel the change in the air, and that they are not optimistic about their results in the upcoming midterms.

They said, "Republicans are right to be worried about the midterms. You can feel when the water temperature changes, and it feels like it’s going to change in a second."

A third lawmaker suggested the Texas special election loss for the GOP is "a wake-up call" ahead of the midterm elections. They said, "Senators are saying more and more loudly that they’re very, very concerned about the environment, that it’s continuing to deteriorate. They say it over and over again."

A new report has since suggested GOP lawmakers have tired of Donald Trump and his negotiating tactics. The report cited instances such as Trump's threats to acquire Greenland and his trade negotiations with allies, such as Canada, as examples of Trump blustering and backing down.

Trump has consistently claimed that his unpredictability was one of his negotiation tactics that helped him get the upper hand. But The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Trump's allies and adversaries appear to be "waiting him out" or "turning away" as they wait for the president to calm down, rather than endure the "abrupt starts, stops, and humiliations that can accompany engaging with him."

Trump's 'cratering approval' will drag family trade down with him: Nobel Prize winner

The declining approval rating of Donald Trump will affect his family businesses, a Nobel Prize winner has claimed.

Paul Krugman believes the negative effects of the president's approval ratings will cause a collapse in the crypto market, which received a surge in the post-election space. Trump had backed a cryptocurrency, $Trump, and has taken actions in office to inflate the value. Top holders of share price in the coin, for instance, were invited to a dinner with the president as a result of their investment.

Despite the boom in interest following Trump's return to office, confidence is waning as his approval rating declines. Economist Krugman believes there is no coming back for the crypto business.

He wrote in his Substack, "But there was also a huge financial payoff: Crypto-friendly policies and the perception that the U.S. government would actively promote crypto assets helped fuel a huge rise in the prices of Bitcoin and other assets.

"The chart at the top shows that a large part of the rise in crypto values since the previous crypto winter came in a post-election surge. As I wrote last October, crypto has become a Trump trade.

"Now almost all of that surge is gone. Bitcoin sold for about $69,000 just before the 2024 election; it reached a peak of almost $125,000; but just before this post went live it was under $71,000.

"How much of that reversal reflects Trump’s cratering approval and doubts about whether he can or will deliver the crypto-friendly policies the industry wants? It must be part of the story. And crypto is unlikely to regain the level of political influence it had a few months ago."

Krugman also criticized the claims of Michal Burry, the investor who predicted and profited from the subprime mortgage crisis. Burry believes there will be a "death spiral" when it comes to asset prices should Bitcoin continue declining.

Krugman disagrees, writing, "I think this is exaggerated: Crypto is still a fairly small piece of financial markets, and, without getting into too much detail, crypto hoarders like Strategy may eventually be forced to sell, but they won’t be facing immediate margin calls.

"In fact, if we’re going to have a crypto crash, best to get it over with now, before the industry becomes too big — or too politically powerful — to fail."

Epstein investigation 'just getting started' despite Trump trying to move on: Dem lawmaker

The investigation and release of Jeffrey Epstein's files is only just beginning according to a Democratic Party representative.

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) says the prolonged release of the files warrants further investigation, despite Donald Trump calling for people to focus on other political matters. The president slammed the release of the files and called for the public and press to move on from discussing them in a presser in the Oval Office yesterday (February 4).

He said, "Nothing came out about me other than it was a conspiracy against me, literally, by Epstein and other people. But I think it’s time now for the country to maybe get on to something else like health care or something that people care about."

Garcia disagrees and believes there is much more to come from the files. Speaking to Politico, he said, "I’ve said from day one that this has been a White House cover-up. That cover-up continues, and the difference between the DOJ’s position and ours is that the DOJ thinks this investigation is over. We think it’s just getting started.

"We have so much work to do ahead of us, and the fact that only 50 percent of the files have been released is not just against the law, it violates a subpoena that we’ve had in place since the summer. Of course, it’s been really harmful to the survivors, as they have said themselves."

Garcia went on to claim the Department of Justice cannot be trusted with the handling of the files. Trump admin representatives claimed there is not enough information in the files to lend them to criminal conviction cases.

The Californian Dem Rep said, "What’s interesting has been the DOJ’s position that there’s not enough information for criminal convictions. As far as I’m concerned, the DOJ cannot be trusted. It’s corrupt. That’s just been the case from day one.

"I think it’s also true that the White House has been trying to hide the release of the files. Anyone can just look at the timeline. You campaign on releasing the files, then you’re president, you try to ignore them.

"Then your DOJ and your attorney general say, 'I have them ready to be released.' Then they release [something] to a bunch of influencers, which is really nothing. Then they say there’s nothing to release. In fact, the case is closed."

Trump makes Karoline Leavitt look foolish with 'nonsensical' election comment: analysis

An attempt by Karoline Leavitt to explain away an outlandish Donald Trump comment has backfired and made her look foolish, a political commentator has suggested.

The White House Press Secretary had been asked to explain what the president meant when he called for the Republican Party to "nationalize the voting" in 15 states. The specific states were not mentioned by Trump, who made the comment in a speech broadcast on the former United States Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Dan Bongino's podcast.

Trump's claim that the Republican Party should "nationalize" the elections had been walked back by Leavitt, who suggested it is the president's way of referring to Congress passing the SAVE Act. This was then rebuked by Trump, who confirmed he had been talking about voting in specific states, rather than across the country.

CNN analyst Aaron Blake wrote, "She [Leavitt] claimed Trump was instead referring to Congress passing the SAVE Act, a bill that aims to combat noncitizen voting in federal elections – something that is already illegal and that experts say rarely happens.

"That was nonsensical, of course. The SAVE Act would add federal requirements to register to vote, sure, but Trump was talking about taking over the voting in a specific number of places (15) – not passing a law that would apply to the whole country.

"And sure enough, Trump on Tuesday made clear that he meant what he said. Asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins what he meant by nationalize the election, he made no mention of the SAVE Act and doubled down on the idea of the federal government asserting a more expansive form of control."

Trump would pass comment again on the 15 states, saying that if a state cannot run an election it should be up to "the people behind me" to do something about it, referring to the Republicans standing behind him in the Oval Office at the time.

Blake added, "It’s the kind of contradiction that would be a scandal in any other administration. Trump’s top spokesperson said he meant one thing, and that turned out not to be true. If nothing else, it’s a huge mark against a spokesperson’s credibility. After all, their job is to quite literally speak for the president."

Expert highlights 'worst-case scenario' after major international nuclear treaty expires

A former US State Department employee has outlined what a "worst-case scenario" would look like following the expiry of the New START deal.

The treaty was a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the US and Russia, which expired today (February 5). Donald Trump claimed that, should the deal expire, the administration would move to put another one into effect, though details of this have not yet been confirmed.

Russia, who suspended its participation in the New START deal in 2023, confirmed they would still abide by the numerical limits imposed by the deal. Rose Gottemoeller, the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security at the US State Department, has sounded the alarm on what could be the worst-case scenario for the deal's expiration.

She told CNN that no longer imposing a numerical limit on Russia's weapons of mass destruction "leaves us in the dust while we're still trying to get organized and the Chinese are building up steadily again."

Gottemoeller added a year-long extension could be of benefit to the US, though there is much work to be done when it comes to "plan and prepare" a new deal.

She added, "They have active warhead production lines as well as active production lines for other related components for their missile systems that they would be able to upload rapidly. We know they have that industrial capacity available, and we do not have it."

Matthew Kroenig, vice president and senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, disagreed and suggested the treaty is not as powerful a deterrent as the US nuclear arsenal itself.

He said, "In theory, it is nice to have limitations, but the main goal of US nuclear weapons is to deter nuclear war, not to have treaties."

Trump was flippant when asked about the treaty last month, saying, "If it expires, it expires. We'll do a better agreement."

DOJ lawyer accused by ex-prosecutor of 'obscene cover-up' to 'revictimize' Epstein women

An attorney has criticized the rollout and redactions of Jeffrey Epstein's files, as well as the reaction of United States Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Glenn Kirschner, a former assistant U.S. Attorney in the office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, accused Blanche of carrying out a cover up of the files and suggested Donald Trump's administration was not coming clean with the files as fast as they should.

In an appearance on Brian Tyler Cohen's podcast, Kirschner said, "What Todd Blanche is saying is absurd, it is obscene, it is a cover up, it is revictimizing these young victims.

"They were young at the time, and to even suggest that in the millions and millions of documents in the investigation that was conducted previously of these crimes, where reportedly more than 1,000 girls were sex trafficked - to suggest the only two people that have criminal culpability in this was Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, is f------ laughable."

Kirschner went on to say the victims are currently being "mistreated" by the Department of Justice and the Deputy Attorney General.

He added, "One way or another, justice has to come for the abuse these then young girls now women suffered as part of the sex trafficking conspiracy.

"There's a little bit of light on the horizon because what we're seeing the Department of Justice doing now in some of the recent reporting is they recklessly, if not intentionally, allowed thousands and thousands and thousands of references to victims names to be spewed into the public square when they released those three million documents.

"They had one job to do, redact victim information. They, at a minimum, recklessly, and it even feels more nefarious and sinister than that, but at least recklessly endangered and victimized hundreds of these victims.

"If there is any good news in all of this, if we can mine through all the bad news, it is that the DoJ's recklessness has now given the victims absolute standing to file a lawsuit and to demand that all of the Epstein files, not being released in the first instance, but be put in the hands of a special master [an extension of the court]."