GOP Senator Blames ‘Radical’ Leftists for Trump’s Cankles
Tommy Tuberville says even at the ripe old age of 79, the president’s only ailing because every day’s “almost like a fistfight” with pesky liberals.

Mark Alfred / The Daily Beast
Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville thinks it’s not age, Big Macs, or a notorious aversion to exercise that’s making President Donald Trump ill.
It’s the radical leftists.
“The pressure on somebody like President Trump right now, not just from outside entities [...] all over the world, but also fighting the radicals in this country,” the Alabama Senator told New York radio station WABC 7770 AM Sunday. “Every day, it’s almost like a fistfight.”
Tuberville’s comments come after this week’s White House announcement that doctors carried out emergency heart tests and diagnosed the president, who is almost 80 years old, with chronic venous insufficiency.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville says it's "fighting the radicals" that's made President Donald Trump sick.
Shawn Thew/Pool via Reuters
Common among the elderly, it’s a condition where the veins in a person’s legs weaken to the point at which it’s difficult for them to return blood to the heart (an apt metaphor?). It can often result in swollen ankles, in turn explaining a recent viral photo of the president in which his lower legs indeed appear to be bulging from his socks.
Make no mistake about it: Trump wasn’t just diagnosed with CVI, a serious condition that can lead to heart failure. Visible leg swelling means he’s already at Stage 3, not the beginning. He likely knew for months, probably even before the election, and only disclosed it now… pic.twitter.com/imxvQoHbDo
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) July 17, 2025
To mention nothing of widespread concern over Trump’s cognitive abilities, or indeed his state of mind, the president’s physical health has proven an increasing source of worry and speculation since he retook office in January.

Trump once said he doesn't work out because he believes the human body is like a battery, with a finite source of energy that exercise only serves to deplete.
Mike Stobe/Getty Images
After former President Joe Biden, he’s the second-oldest person ever to be sworn in as president and will be the oldest-serving president in American history by the time his second term ends in 2029. His affinity for fast food is also well-known, and he’s stated in the past that he believes the human body is like a battery, with a finite source of energy that exercise only serves to deplete.
Even before taking office for the first time in 2016, Trump has repeatedly sought to limit the release of public information about his health, insisting he’s a “very stable genius” in peak form despite expert speculation about obvious risk factors that would include, to name but a few, heart disease, high cholesterol, obesity, and a family history of dementia.
Nevertheless, just about enough has made it into the public domain for some experts to speculate that Trump may not become the oldest serving president after all, with one source who spoke to the Daily BeastTommy giving him a less than 75 percent chance of making it to the end of his second term.
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