When the doctor's Trump health letter claiming the Presidential candidate was in amazing health was revealed, many said, "Oh sure. Sounds like Trump wrote it."
Well, according to his longtime personal physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein, that's exactly what happened. Trump dictated it and Bornstein, wanting to remain in Trump's good graces, signed it -- even though that's a total violation of ethics.
"He dictated that whole letter. I didn't write that letter," Bornstein told CNN on Tuesday. "I just made it up as I went along."
Bornstein's admission is exactly the opposite of what he said more than two years when the Trump health letter was released. "His physical strength and stamina are extraordinary," Bornstein wrote in the letter that Trump's campaign made public in December 2015. "If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency."
Really? All you have to do is look at the guy and you know that couldn't possibly be true. As my wife, Jackie, often says, "I don't want to be mean, but..." The guy's fat and obviously out of shape. I know what my doc would tell me if I looked like that.
"Hey dude, lose some weight and stop eating so many cheeseburgers!"
Why the Fake Trump Health Letter Matters
This piece by CNN's Chris Cillizza is right on point. It points out these four reasons why Trump faking his doctor's health letter matters.
1. The President of the United States, as a candidate, faked a letter from his doctor to settle health and age questions. At 70, Trump is the oldest person ever to be elected to a first term as president. His diet and exercise regimen (golf?) are not what anyone would describe as particularly healthy. Those factors led to questions about his physical and mental fitness for the job during the 2016 campaign. Trump's pushback was the Bornstein letter. It was more Trumpian bending of the truth, to which we are now accustomed.
2. As Cillizza points out, Trump repeatedly attacked Hillary Clinton as not being healthy enough to be president. He tried to make Clinton's stamina and endurance an issue in the campaign, an effort that was accelerated when a video captured a wobbly Clinton leaving a September 11 memorial in New York City. "They say pneumonia on Friday, but she was coughing very, very badly a week ago, and even before that, if you remember," Trump said on CNBC. "This wasn't the first time. So, it's very interesting to see what is going on." Many times Trump said, "she doesn't have the stamina." And, he said all of those things after having written his own fake Trump health letter.
3. Trump will say or do absolutely anything to win. We all know the nasty things he said about his opponents in the primary; the demeaning names he called them; his exaggerations after exaggerations. So why should he worry about a little thing like writing a fake doctor's letter saying he is the healthiest person ever to run for president? Who cares?
4. Trump eventually turns on everyone. We've seen this time and again, as well. Just look at the revolving door at the White House and in his cabinet. One minute you're practically God and the next you're out on your ass, fired on Twitter and left with no way home. (Read the Comey book. Trump was livid after he fired FBI Director James Comey while he was on an official trip to California because Comey was given a ride home in the FBI plane that had to return to Washington anyway.)
Here's more from Cillizza:
"History, however, suggests that those who pledge total fealty to Trump are almost never repaid in kind. You are liked and valued by Trump only as long as you are providing some sort of material service to him. When that service stops or, God forbid, you draw negative headlines to Trump, you will be cut loose with the quickness. (I'm looking at you, Michael Cohen.)
"In interviews on Tuesday, Bornstein clearly felt betrayed when Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller came and took the President's medical records from Bornstein's office. Bornstein shouldn't feel that way. This is what Trump does. It is who he is."