I could live to 200 if I ate less junk food, says Trump

DONALD TRUMP has said he feels “about 35 years old” and could live until 200 if he did not eat so much junk food.

The 77-year-old made the claim to supporters during a campaign event in New Hampshire, the next state in the Republican nomination contest for the presidential election in November.

One recent poll has put him in a dead heat in the state with Nikki Haley, the 51-year-old former UN ambassador who has previously taken swipes at his age.

“I feel like I’m about 35 years old. I feel better now than I did 30 years ago,” Mr Trump said on Wednesday.

“Cognitively, I’m better now than I was 20 years ago,” he added.

Mr Trump then recalled his former White House physician, Ronny Jackson, had said that he would “be around for 200 years” if he did not eat so much junk food.

Dr Jackson claimed in 2018 that Mr Trump, despite being in his seventies, overweight and with a fondness for burgers and Diet Coke, was in “excellent health”.

Questioned by a sceptical reporter over the assessment, he answered: “It’s called genetics. Some people have great genes. I told the president if he’d had a better diet over the last 20 years he could have lived to 200 years old. The answer is he has incredibly good genes, it’s just the way God made him.”

“He had great findings across the board but his cardiac health stood out. Hands down, he is in the excellent range.”

Some suggested that Mr Trump’s height had been exaggerated during his presidency to avoid classifying him as obese.

Proponents of the theory are known as the “girther movement”, a reference to Mr Trump’s “birther” conspiracy claim that Barack Obama, the former US president, was born in Kenya.

Speaking in New Hampshire on Wednesday, Ms Haley claimed her former boss had thrown a tantrum while criticising her record at the UN as the pair traded barbs on the campaign trail.

Mr Trump – fresh off a landslide victory in the Iowa caucuses – said on Tuesday that she had not been “tough enough” in her role as ambassador.

“I know Trump threw a temper tantrum about me last night. I heard that,” Ms Haley told a rally in Rochester. “And I’ve seen the commercials. I will always tell you the truth. I will always over-communicate with you.”