Official White House physician Admiral Ronny Jackson announced Tuesday that the president is in “excellent health” following last Friday’s physical exam, Donald Trump’s first since being elected to office. According to Jackson, the president is 75 inches tall (or 6′ 3″), weighs 239 pounds, has a total cholesterol of 233, and a resting pulse of 68 bpm. Jackson also said that, at the president’s request, he performed a cognitive test, and that he had “absolutely no concern about his cognitive ability or neurological function.” That makes one of us.
Viewers noted that the president’s weight and height gave him a body mass index of 29.9, just shy of the threshold to be considered medically obese. Also of note: According to Maggie Haberman of the New York Times, previous physicals (and his driver’s license) have listed Trump’s height as 6′ 2″, which would make a significant difference with regard to his BMI calculation (as would likely a single trip to McDonald’s). Jackson acknowledged he had spoken with the president about “diet, exercise and weight loss,” and said a nutritionist would be working with the president to change his eating habits. We wish them luck.
Jackson said the president did not have dentures, and explained the slurring of his speech at a recent event on Jerusalem as a result of taking too much Sudafed. He said the president had been given a Montreal Cognitive Assessment test and scored 30/30. Many questioned the appropriateness of that specific test, which asks takers to describe the similarities between an orange and a banana, in evaluating the mental capacities of the leader of the free world.
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment is a 10-minute test that asks a person to draw a clock, repeat the phrase “I only know that John is the one to help today,” and identify a lion, rhinoceros, and camel.
It would be extremely concerning if a President scored less than 30/30. https://t.co/6TL0l9WNhg
— James Hamblin (@jameshamblin) January 16, 2018
If you want to do the same cognitive assessment that Trump took with Dr. Ronny Jackson, here it is.
This is The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). pic.twitter.com/3JvxQNMSBv
— Ted Corcoran (RedTRaccoon) (@RedTRaccoon) January 16, 2018
Asked how a man whose diet consists of fast food and whose only known exercise is driving his golf cart on the green could nevertheless appear in such relatively good health, Jackson chalked it up to the president’s “incredible genes.”
How can Trump, who loves KFC and never exercises, be in such good health? “I don’t know. He has incredible genes,” doctor says. https://t.co/RgX60N4CHG
— Meg Wagner (@megwagner) January 16, 2018
It’s a response the president surely loved to hear.
