Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday released a letter from White House physician Joshua Simmons that attested her “excellent health," but Donald Trump's campaign still refuses to provide a detailed or recent assessment.
|
Listen To This Story
 |
Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday released a letter from White House physician Joshua Simmons that attested her “excellent health” and the “physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.”
Donald Trump, on the other hand, once again played coy with his health records. Although (or perhaps because) his advancing age and mental acuity have become an issue in this presidential race, his campaign refused to make available a recent assessment of his well-being.
Instead, it only released a letter from last year and two letters from this year describing injuries to Trump’s ear following an assassination attempt in July.
While claiming that he is in great shape (and has the body of a professional athlete), the former president has routinely refused to provide the kind of details about his health that Harris included in her letter.
The vice president’s own height and weight were not listed.
Apart from that, Simmons stated that the vice president only has minor health issues, such as mild nearsightedness, seasonal allergies, and skin hives, which are treated with prescription and over-the-counter medication.
Harris does not suffer from common medical issues such as diabetes, high cholesterol, or heart disease. She also does not have cancer, osteoporosis, or any neurological disorders.
Simmons also pointed out that Harris’s family on the maternal side has a history of colon cancer but that all of her screenings in that regard are up to date.
According to his assessment, her vital signs are perfectly normal, and Harris exercises regularly.
The letter did not include any information on the vice president’s mental health.
This is an area in which the public would especially benefit from an objective evaluation of both candidates. However, it seems unlikely that Trump would ever agree to that.
In response to the release of Harris’s medical information, the former president’s campaign merely issued a typically hyperbolic statement that obscured Trump’s reluctance to make medical information available to the public.
“President Trump has voluntarily released updates from his personal physician, as well as detailed reports from Dr. Ronny Jackson who treated him after the first assassination attempt,” said the campaign’s communications director Steven Cheung. It bears repeating that the “update” consists of a three-paragraph letter from a year ago.
Instead of providing actual data, Cheung merely pointed to Trump’s “extremely busy and active campaign schedule unlike any other in political history,” as evidence for the former president’s excellent health.
