Donald Trump’s rambling speech during a White House ceremony, along with the presence of a mysterious rash on his neck, have deepened concerns over his health at a moment when the US is engaged in a military campaign in the Middle East.
As the US and Iran traded threats and missiles on Monday, the President used a speech at a Medal of Honour ceremony to launch into a lengthy tangent about his plans for the White House ballroom.
Some questioned why Trump was talking about his golden drapes as American missiles flew, with reports suggesting his “mind was wandering”.
“Stress can impact cognitive control and reduce the ability to edit thoughts before speaking,” Thorrun Govind, a health expert and former chair of the English Pharmacy Board of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, told The i Paper.
“In a high-pressure workplace the body activates the same stress pathways, but in older adults the impact can be more pronounced and longer lasting.”
Trump: "See that nice drape? When that comes down right now you see a very very deep hole, but in about a year and half you're gonna see a very very beautiful building. And there's your entrance to it right there. In fact, it looks so nice I think I'll leave it and save money on… pic.twitter.com/jZXTQ02lib
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 2, 2026At almost 80 years old, Trump is one of the oldest US presidents.
“He is a very old President and it has been noticeable this year that he is slowing down a bit,” said Mark Shanahan, an associate professor of political engagement at the University of Surrey. “Trump will be 80 in June. It’s natural. We’ve seen it previously with Biden.”
Onlookers also noticed a rash on Trump’s neck at Monday’s ceremony, which the White House said was caused by a cream the President was using as a “preventative skin treatment”.
He has been seen wearing gloves in recent weeks, raising questions as to whether the bruises on his hands that were seen at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January have returned.
Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, previously said that the President’s bruising was caused by “tissue damage from frequent handshaking” and that aspirin he takes daily causes him to bruise more easily.
Trump has been wearing black gloves, prompting speculation that he is using them to hide bruises on his hands (Photo: Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)Trump’s erratic behaviour
Shanahan noted that Trump had been willing to act more aggressively and erratically when it comes to foreign policy.
“The first year of Trump, 2.0 really went to plan and was quite disciplined,” he said. “We’ve seen a lot less discipline this year. Whether it’s talking about buying Greenland or on-off on-off tariffs all across the board, his decision making has smacked very much more of guts feel than of a plan being delivered strategically.”
When it comes to Iran, Shanahan added: “It’s worrying because it’s opportunistic and there are no clear next steps … Trump has set a fire in the region, and doesn’t seem to have the means to put it out.”
Trump has repeatedly claimed to be the healthiest and strongest President to ever grace the Oval Office, and James Jones, the White House physician’s assistant, has insisted that he is in better health than former President Barack Obama.
He is also known for moving quickly on from issues, often enacting ambitious policies before quietly U-turning or compromising whilst he focuses on something else. Still, some have suggested there is more to this than just his desire to shift attention from domestic issues like the Epstein files.
Trump has said that while his father had Alzheimer’s, he does not – although he notably appeared to forget the name of the disease in a recent interview.
Trump appeared to struggle to walk in a straight line in Davos earlier this year (Photo: Ina Fassbender/AFP)Dr John Gartner, an American psychologist, psychiatrist and former assistant professor at John Hopkins Medical School, told The i Paper that: “Trump is showing signs of tangential speech. He goes from one topic to another in a way that’s really just kind of a loose association.”
Speaking to The i Paper last month, Gartner suggested that Trump was showing signs of dementia: “The main way to diagnose dementia is that we see a deterioration from someone’s own baseline in these four areas: language, memory, behaviour, and psychomotor performance.
“First of all, if you look at tapes of him in the 1980s, he was actually quite articulate… Now he has trouble completing a sentence, a thought and sometimes even a word.”
Gartner said that this was a huge deterioration from his baseline. He claimed that Trump used to be physically co-ordinated, and now can struggle to walk in a straight line. “On the red carpet at Davos you may have noticed him weaving. That relates to one of the signs of what I think he has: frontotemporal dementia,” the psychologist said. “That walk is called a wide base gait where he swings his right leg in kind of a semicircle and that drives him to the left.”
He added that Trump’s increasing military adventurism could be brought on by this specific type of dementia, which “produces tremendous disinhibition of behaviour” and would make Trump more aggressive and erratic.
David Dunn, a professor in international politics at the University of Birmingham, would not give an opinion on Trump’s mental health, but pointed out that while the President has always been narcissistic, the aggression that he sometimes shows is “even uncharacteristic compared to him in his first term, five years ago.”
“In every aspect of Trump’s behaviour, the way in which he says “quiet piggy” to a member of the press corps, or the vitriolic way in which he bites back on everything, there is an element of aggression, of meanness, of cruelty,” Dunn added.
Trump’s bruised hands have been caused by handshakes, according to the White House (Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty)How Iran could be taking a toll
With six US soldiers now confirmed dead, and the conflict spreading into the nearby region, we are likely to see growing pressure on Trump.
Govind told The i Paper that when “fight or flight” is triggered repeatedly, like during chronic workplace pressure, stress pathways can increase cardiovascular risk, impair working memory, reduce clarity in decision-making and prolong recovery time.
“Repeated high-pressure situations can lead to a sustained increase in blood pressure and greater pressure on the cardiovascular system. This is particularly the case in older adults or those with pre-existing heart conditions.”
Trump has suffered from numerous health issues, such as swollen ankles and bruising on the backs of his hands. The White House has said he has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, which can cause swollen ankles.
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David Andersen, an associate professor of US politics at Durham University, said that the attack on Iran is more thought through than others have suggested.
He described it as a “major gamble” and said that it is “massively risky and dangerous” but also holds the potential to be Trump’s most significant foreign policy achievement.
“Given his slipping polling and lack of domestic accomplishments in a midterm election year, I think he is feeling the pressure to make bold moves and achieve major successes,” Andersen added.
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