What’s really going on with Trump’s health?

While Americans are opening renewal notices and realizing they can no longer afford to have health insurance, the President of the United States drove in a full motorcade to a luxury stone showroom in Florida to personally select onyx and white marble for his new $400 million White House ballroom vanity project. He wasn’t spending his time formalizing the “concept of a plan” he’s supposedly been working on for over a decade now. He went to pick out tile. While families stare down medical debt, canceled coverage, and the real possibility of going without care altogether, Trump is obsessed with gilding the building he thinks he owns.

Across the country, people are sharing the costs they now have to pay, in disbelief, now that the ACA premium credits have expired. One couple in their early 60s watched their monthly premium jump from $444 to $2,444 overnight. That’s nearly $24,000 more per year just to stay insured. Another man saw his insurance spike from $375 to $1,075 a month, still with a $10,000 deductible. He canceled. At 61 years old, he’s uninsured for the first time in his life. These are real stories from real people, who are sharing the impossible positions they find themselves in on the Threads app, as they try to figure out what they’re supposed to do now.

(Link to the Threads discussion is below.)

And while that panic sets in for over 20 million Americans, Trump is busy elevating himself, shopping for tile, and consumed by the aesthetics of his legacy, while working families are consumed by fear. I keep coming back to how we’ve normalized this kind of absurdity, how spectacle is just what we expect now.

It’s the same pattern we’ve seen before, too. Trump isn’t doing anything other authoritarians haven’t done in the past. These “strongmen” love to build palaces while their people line up for bread. Ceaușescu did it in Bucharest; he demolished large sections of the city to build the Palace of the Parliament, a grotesquely massive monument to his own megalomania. It was meant to house the communist government and stand as a symbol of his power. But Ceaușescu wouldn’t live to see it finished. In 1989, his regime collapsed in a violent uprising. He tried to flee, and then days later, after a rushed trial, he and his wife Elena were executed on Christmas Day. That moment, Ceaușescu in Bucharest became the ultimate symbol of how fast a dictator’s grip can slip. Trump hasn’t reached that kind of downfall, and thankfully, that’s not how we operate in this country.

Earlier that morning, Trump posted on Truth Social that he is in “PERFECT HEALTH,” writing: “The White House Doctors have just reported that I am in ‘PERFECT HEALTH,’ and that I ‘ACED’ (Meaning, was correct on 100% of the questions asked!), for the third straight time, my Cognitive Examination, something which no other President, or previous Vice President, was willing to take. P.S., I strongly believe that anyone running for President, or Vice President, should be mandatorily forced to take a strong, meaningful, and proven Cognitive Examination. Our great Country cannot be run by ‘STUPID’ or INCOMPETENT PEOPLE! President DJT.”

I haven’t been able to find a single physician who says that’s how cognitive exams work. They’re not indicators of genius; they’re tools used to detect cognitive decline. Trump is bragging about passing a test designed to flag dementia, not showcase brilliance. And yet his medical disclosures always seem to appear at moments when his physical and mental decline are most visible. You have to wonder, does he know when he’s slipping? Is the overcompensation intentional? Or is it instinct? Either way, it didn’t stop there.

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump confirmed he’s taking 325 milligrams of aspirin daily, well beyond the more commonly prescribed low-dose of 81 milligrams, which now is not as recommended as it was in the past. He admitted that he’s continuing the high dose despite his own doctors advising him to cut back. “They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don’t want thick blood pouring through my heart,” he said. “I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart. Does that make sense?” He described the regimen as a 25-year habit and said he’s “a little superstitious” about changing it. But according to the Mayo Clinic and the American Heart Association, that dosage significantly increases the risk of internal bleeding and is rarely prescribed unless a patient has already experienced a major cardiovascular event. It doesn’t signal perfect health. It points to a man clinging to the appearance of vitality while ignoring the consequences, one who is trying to project strength even when his body is telling a different story.

History is full of regimes that rewrote medical truth to protect the illusion of power. Joseph Stalin’s aides hid the signs of his declining health for years, covering up smaller strokes until he collapsed from a massive cerebral hemorrhage. Mao Zedong’s deterioration was treated as a state secret. The Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, one of the most powerful men of the 20th century, suffered multiple heart attacks, developed symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and ALS, and progressively lost motor function. He slurred his speech, couldn’t swallow food, and relied on a feeding tube. His decline was known to insiders, even to Nixon, but never to the Chinese people. His death in 1976 came after years of being physically incapacitated yet propped up for the sake of national mythology, as later revealed by his personal physician, Dr. Li Zhisui.

Authoritarianism thrives where transparency ends. When leaders start obsessing over the image of health, it’s never really about wellness. It’s about dominance. About preserving the illusion of invincibility. The marble and the medicine go hand in hand, one for the ego, one for the myth. Both serve the same purpose: not to lead a nation, but to protect the man at the center of the stage. This presidency isn’t a public institution anymore. It’s a shrine to Donald Trump’s image. Not to the people. Not to the truth. Just to him.

It’s why I’ve had to do some real thinking about how we respond to all of this. Because when you look at Trump’s obsession with projecting invincibility, miracle health claims, and cognitive tests he treats like trophies, it’s not about strength. It’s about control. And the more I sat with that, the more I realized something uncomfortable. His need to control the narrative didn’t always look like control at first. It looked like insecurity. It looked like distraction. But at its core, it was about shaping perception at all costs. And that made me think about the ways we, on the other side, fall into our own traps. Not control, exactly. But perfection. We start holding out for candidates who never mess up, who never disappoint us, who check every single box. But we’re not picking a soulmate. We’re picking someone to keep the country afloat. But perfection is a moving target, and politics isn’t clean. It’s compromise. It’s momentum. It’s getting enough people to move in the same direction, even if they don’t agree on everything. And I’ve come to see how chasing purity can start to feel like taking a stand, when sometimes, it’s just standing still.

I’ve done it myself. I’ve thought if a candidate didn’t fight hard enough, or speak clearly enough, or inspire me the way I wanted to be inspired, then maybe they weren’t worth voting for. I’ve mistaken disappointment for betrayal. But looking back now, I see what that mindset costs. It keeps us stuck. It opens the door for someone like Trump to slide back in, not because he earned more support, but because too many of us sat it out.

And of course, our concerns about candidates on our side are nowhere near the level of excusing a felon, a fraud, or someone actively trying to destroy democracy. We shouldn’t, and we won’t, tolerate that. But if we’re not careful, our own extremes can pull us off course too. Because this moment isn’t about finding a flawless hero. It’s about choosing a direction. Do we want to move forward, even if it’s not perfect, or let the country sink under the weight of authoritarianism, because the person pulling us to shore didn’t say everything just right?

That’s why, as we head into the midterms and then soon after, the next presidential race, I’m thinking a lot about how we show up for each other. Not just at the ballot box, but online too. We have to stay open. Open-minded, open-hearted, and focused on moving the country forward, even if the candidate on our side doesn’t check every box. They won’t be perfect. They won’t say everything the way we want. Their top priorities might not match ours exactly. But if they’re helping lead us in the right direction, toward justice, toward safety, toward decency, that’s what matters.

And that same grace, that same level of understanding, should extend to the people speaking out and sharing the truth every day. Creators, historians, and commentators who are doing the work under constant pressure. And I’ve seen it firsthand: even when someone is on the same side, even when they’re working tirelessly, they still get torn down. This week, it was Heather Cox Richardson. A serious, thoughtful historian bringing context and depth to the chaos of this moment. And yet I watched people try to discredit her work over a take she had in one moment over three months ago. It felt cruel, and it was counterproductive. She’s not going to be perfect 100% of the time. None of us are. But she’s bringing insight, clarity, and truth, and I think we need to be able to recognize that even if we don’t agree with every word.

Because this is bigger than our individual opinions. We cannot let infighting distract us from what we’re actually up against. MAGA is still the threat. Trump is still the threat. The Republican Party is still pushing policies that are hurting real people every day. And we can’t control them. But we can control how we treat each other. We can choose to stay focused. We can choose to hold the line together. We don’t have to agree on everything to move in the same direction. We just need to agree on what we’re trying to stop.

That’s what I’m bringing into this year. That mindset. That focus. And now, some tools to go with it. The daily videos are starting. The nightly posts are continuing. The resource guide is coming together. And my husband is building something I’m really excited about, a tool that helps make sense of the news as it’s happening. Simple, clear, easy to use. Because the truth shouldn’t be hard to find. And no one should have to be an expert just to stay informed.

All of this is possible because of the people who’ve signed up for a paid subscription. That support is what’s funding the videos. It’s giving me the time to build something that lasts. And maybe most important, it’s what’s keeping everything I write, and all the new tools coming soon, completely free for everyone, no matter their financial situation. That’s the kind of community I want to build. One where truth stays accessible. Where no one gets left out. Where we’re truly in this together.

None of this would exist without you. Your support, your subscriptions, your encouragement, that’s what makes this possible. I didn’t know what this would turn into when I started. But I’ve never felt more focused, or more certain of what I’m meant to be doing.

We’re going to take back the House. We’re going to get through the primaries together. And when the presidential race kicks into full gear, we’ll be ready. I’ll be here every step of the way. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. Trump is cornered, and he’s unraveling. He’s a lame duck president, nearly 80 years old, with nowhere left to go. He’s not running again. The Constitution is clear: two terms, no more. Let him rant. Let him threaten. We’ll take it seriously, but we won’t let fear write the story. That’s our job now.

Whoever the GOP puts up next, we’ll face it together. Because I still have Hope for America. And I hope you do too.

See you tomorrow,
Heather

P.S. If you’ve made it this far, chances are we see things the same way. You can make a difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. There is a free option and the option to help me reach a wider audience with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country.

Link to Threads Post with ACA cost discussion: https://www.threads.com/@mama_pause/post/DS_7gpyDhjw