Doctoring the books
“An absurd gastroenterologist’s note that is so short on specifics and long on hyperbole that it sounds like Mr. Trump could have written it himself.” That was our description of the 2015 letter from Donald Trump’s personal physician attesting to the then-presidential candidate’s good health. So we can’t say we are completely surprised by the doctor’s recent admission that it was Trump who dictated the letter.
Harold Bornstein, who served as Trump’s physician for more than three decades, disclosed last week that the letter declaring Trump will be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency” was not, as he had previously maintained, written by him. “He dictated that whole letter. I didn’t write that letter,” he told CNN after recounting to NBC how three men representing Trump—including his longtime personal bodyguard—raided his medical offices in February 2017 and seized the president’s medical records.
Trump reportedly was upset that Dr. Bornstein had talked publicly about the president’s use of a drug to combat hair loss.
Clearly Dr. Bornstein, a somewhat eccentric figure who has become the butt of late-night jokes, needs to account for his complicity in passing off Trump’s medical assessment as his own. The bizarre circumstances surrounding the retrieval of Trump’s medical records also raise questions that deserve attention.
The larger concerns, though, center on Trump’s actions, the issues they raise about his fitness for office and the need for a system that gives voters full and reliable information about the health and well-being of those who seek the country’s highest office.
Why the deception? Was there something to hide?
There are trade-offs in running for and becoming president; a major one is forgoing claims to privacy. The presidency is a unique office with unmatched powers, and the American people— along with the rest of the world—have a right to know whether the person who holds that office is in good health. Trump’s phony letter makes a sham of that principle. While it provides no information about his health, it does speak volumes about his character.