This is just the kind of macabre development that you would expect as the Trump 2.0 fiasco limps along to the end of its first year, sputtering like an old car that was up on blocks for four years, then taken down and expected to run again. Trump’s 1.0 performance looks positively stellar by comparison to present day. At least then Trump spent some kind of time at the White House and wasn’t running off to vacay in Palm Beach every single weekend. Melania even resided in the family quarters, as opposed to showing up occasionally to do a photo op or accept a bogus award. But that was then and this is now. Here’s where things stand with the Cankles King and the Phoniest Show On Earth. Daily Beast:
On Friday, the president, 79, opted to meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the Cabinet Room of the White House rather than host a sit-down with the world leader in the Oval Office as he has done on numerous occasions.
While there is no suggestion that the president has changed his schedule in any way, the move allowed him to avoid displaying his ankles before prying eyes as questions about his health have swirled for months.
The president’s swollen ankles first raised concern in July when he was photographed watching the FIFA Club World Cup final.
The White House later revealed the president had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a common and manageable condition in older people.
Since then, the president’s swollen ankles have been the subject of intense scrutiny on several occasions, but the White House has pushed back, saying he has not changed his routine.
However, in recent months, some Trump critics have accused the president of hiding his ankles during events either by holding them in the Oval Office, where he is seated behind his desk, or by just hosting the larger lunch meetings where his ankles could be hidden under the table before the press enters the room.
His ankles have even been cropped out or hidden from view in some official photos taken in the Oval Office.
“His ankles have been cropped out.” Oh, my ears and whiskers. That’s how Trump is dealing with a worsening condition. And I know whereof I speak. I have had egregious edema, although not lately. I’m talking about a situation where I once had an ankle so swollen that it literally oozed over my loafers and my hematologist and I were laughing our butts off. Visually, it was horrific. But it wasn’t deadly and so we laughed. Normal people have the ability to laugh at themselves, unlike Donald Trump, who still entertains some notion that he was a stud (“fucking every supermodel in Europe” back during his “own personal Vietnam” and those are quotes) or is still some kind of a stud.
The last time the president met with a world leader in the Oval Office, with his ankles on display, was when he hosted NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on October 22, two days before flying to Asia. […]
Days later, the president had a return visit to Walter Reed Military Medical Center, his second exam there in six months for a “comprehensive follow-up evaluation.”
Close Trump ally and his former White House physician, Rep. Ronny Jackson, later told Newsmax that it was a “follow-up on his venous issue.”
Swell, Donald. Find something to hide behind. There should always be a desk, chair, golf cart, or podium you can hide behind. Or maybe a woman, man, person, camera, TV. Sounds to me for all the world that what happened is that the venous issue has gotten worse, the cankles are now world class, and Trump being Trump, simply can’t deal with reality so he finds a way to avoid it.
