Presidential Medical Procedures (content warning: possibly gruesome details)

[lpetrich]

It's interesting and instructive to compare how Donald Trump and Joe Biden have related to their colonoscopies.

The inside scope: How ego led Trump to hide a colonoscopy - POLITICO - "One of the truly weird and unanswered questions of the Trump era is now resolved. But why was it ever a secret in the first place?"

It was one of the great mysteries of his time in office. Why, exactly, did President Donald Trump make an unscheduled trip to Walter Reed National Medical Center one sunny Saturday afternoon in November 2019?

In her tell-all book, former White House press secretary and chief of staff to the first lady Stephanie Grisham strongly implies that Trump went to Walter Reed for a routine colonoscopy as part of his annual physical. She never explicitly says so. But multiple former officials confirmed that that was, in fact, the reason.

Grisham’s book states that Trump made the decision to keep his visit under wraps because, she suspects, he didn’t want to be the “butt of the joke” on late night television. The book also states her belief that he avoided anesthesia for the painful and invasive procedure because he didn’t want Vice President Mike Pence to take over temporarily as commander-in-chief and loathed showing any kind of weakness.

Former White House aides say they’re surprised the detail never got out while Trump was president. After all, just about everything else eventually made its way into TV chyrons and newspaper headlines.

However,

Biden temporarily hands powers to Harris during medical procedure - POLITICO

The White House announced that President Joe Biden temporarily transfered power on Friday to Vice President Kamala Harris while he undergoes a colonoscopy under anesthesia during his annual physical.

Harris will work from her West Wing office at the White House while the president undergoes his colonoscopy, press secretary Jen Psaki said.

Biden traveled to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Friday morning for a physical, one day before his 79th birthday. The oldest person ever elected to the White House, Biden has been subject to questions of his mental acuity that have tugged away at his approval ratings.

...
Around noon Psaki wrote that Biden was back in contact with Harris and White House chief of staff Ron Klain.

"@POTUS spoke with @VP and @WHCOS at approximately 11:35am this morning. @POTUS was in good spirits and at that time resumed his duties. He will remain at Walter Reed as he completes the rest of his routine physical," she tweeted.

So Trump didn't want to go under anesthesia because he'd have to make his Vice President a temporary President, while Joe Biden was willing to do what Trump was unwilling to do.

Says a lot about their personalities -- Joe Biden has demonstrated much more emotional maturity than Donald Trump.

 

[zorq]

Says a lot about their personalities -- Joe Biden has demonstrated much more emotional maturity than Donald Trump.

That is such a low bar.

 

[Jayjay]

Trump probably went under anesthesia anyway. It's not like there is a law that says the vice president has to be sworn in if the president is knocked out, is there?