The results of President Trump‘s first physical are in, and so is the reaction. At issue, the President’s weight. White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson says Trump is 6 foot 3 and weighs 239 pounds. But many aren’t buying it.
The controversy already has its own hashtag: the girther movement - driven by those who think the new information on Trump’s health is fake news. The President has even been offered $100,000 for the charity of his choice - if he will step on an accurate scale with an impartial doctor.
The skeptics base their doubt in part on photos now viral on social media: the President side-by-side famous athletes who share the same height and weight. Some feel it’s suspiciously coincidental that if Trump weighed just one more pound, his body mass index would be 30, which would push him from overweight to obese on the BMI scale.
Mass General Obesity expert Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford says, “It’s not just about the weight. It’s about where that weight is distributed. That weight that is carried in the midsection is more of a predictor of indicators like cardiovascular disease.
Cody Stanford says she might have bypassed the high tech echocardiogram and CT scan for a simple tape measure: “I would’ve done a waist circumference to match with the BMI to match with his history of heart disease. I would’ve decided, does he have metabolic syndrome?”
Of course there are those who say they don’t care about Trump’s weight. Others feel there are “weightier” things to worry about... as one man said, “I care more about mental health.”
In fact, the President reportedly requested he be given a cognitive test for memory loss or early dementia. The White House Doctor says he passed that test with flying colors.
