2024-10-13 06:31:00
A medical report on the “excellent” health of US presidential candidate Kamala Harris made age and fitness a campaign issue again on Saturday. The vice president (59) has “the physical and mental resilience to successfully fulfill the duties of the presidency,” said Harris’ doctor Joshua Simmons. The campaign team of her rival Donald Trump immediately declared that the 78-year-old was also fully up to the job.
“Vice President Harris remains in good health,” Harris’ doctor, Joshua Simmons, said in the report released Saturday. The results were explained by Harris’ doctor Joshua Simmons in the report published on Saturday. Physical examination in April was “unremarkable”. The vice president only suffers from seasonal allergies and hives, which are treated with over-the-counter and prescription medications. Harris is also slightly nearsighted and wears contact lenses, her doctor explained.
Harris said Trump’s unwillingness to disclose health details was “another example of his lack of transparency.” For her, it is “clear that at least his campaign team does not want the American people to really see who he is (…) and whether or not he is capable of carrying out the duties of President of the United States.” The Vice President herself considers Trump “unable to carry out this mandate,” as she told reporters before her departure to the state of North Carolina.
With the publication of the report a few weeks before the US presidential election, Harris wants to bring the topic of the candidates’ age and health back into the election campaign. The vice president hopes to spark a debate about the suitability of Trump, who is almost 20 years her senior, her campaign team said.
Trump has become the oldest presidential candidate in US history since US President Joe Biden withdrew from the race for the White House. Before Biden announced his intention not to run again in July, debates about the 81-year-old’s physical and mental fitness had shaped the election campaign.
Since it became clear that Harris will run against Trump in November, the issue has hardly played a role in the media or in the election campaign. According to a Gallup poll released on Thursday, 41 percent of citizens think Trump is too old to be president. However, that is only four percentage points more than in June, when Biden was Trump’s opponent.
A few hours after the report was published, Harris’ spokesman Ian Sams directly called on Trump to also release information about his health. “What is he hiding?” asked Sams.
A New York Times article recently criticized the fact that Trump – unlike Biden – never revealed detailed information about his health. In 2023, Trump published a report from his former doctor in the White House that he was in “excellent” health. However, no details were given. Another article in the New York Times also pointed out that Trump’s speeches have recently become increasingly “longer”, “confusing” and “vulgar”.
Trump’s campaign communications director, Steven Cheung, said on Saturday that Trump had already released several medical reports, all of which certified that he was in “perfect and excellent health.”
Trump’s campaign team republished a statement from his former personal physician Ronny Jackson, which had already been published after the attempted assassination in July. Jackson, who is now a member of Congress, said Trump was doing “extremely well” and was recovering “quickly” from his ear injury.
Trump’s campaign team also re-distributed a statement from another doctor who examined Trump in September 2023. Doctor Bruce Aronwald had certified that Trump was in “excellent” health. However, he gave few details and did not provide any information about which tests he subjected Trump to during the investigation.
Trump’s campaign team also stated that Harris took fewer appointments than Trump because she apparently did not have his “stamina.” She is therefore “completely unsuitable” to become US President. Trump, on the other hand, has an “extremely busy” schedule and is more “active” in the election campaign than any politician before him.
As if to prove this, the Republican gave an hour-and-a-half speech in Coachella, California, despite the heat on Saturday, in which he once again painted a threatening picture of Harris’ immigration policy. Harris “orchestrated the invasion of America,” he said.
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