In a White House address in December, Donald Trump stated that over the past 11 months his administration has brought “more positive change” than any government in US history.
“Nothing like this has ever happened,” Trump added.
It is true that his second term was unusual, including in some ways that the president may not have appreciated. That's because Trump, 79, has exhibited erratic and at times confused behavior throughout 2025, raising questions about his mental and physical health.
Trump appeared to fall asleep during some meetings; Among other things, he veered off topic into fanciful discussions of interior decor or whales and birds. His public appearances lacked focus, and he used speeches to ramble about Barack Obama walking down the stairs or make up stories about the Unabomber.
The unpredictable behavior has led the White House to repeatedly defend Trump's mental acuity, often in hyperbolic terms. Trump himself has boasted that he passed a test for early signs of dementia “excellently,” but his 11 months in office have amassed a rash of unusual behavior.
There was an incident in mid-July when Trump told a detailed story about how his uncle, the late Professor John Trump, taught Ted Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Trump recalled: “I said, ‘What kind of student was he, Uncle John? Dr. John Trump.” I said, “What kind of student?” And then he said, “Seriously, okay.” He said, “He will correct, he will correct everyone.” But he didn’t do it very well.”
The problem is that this can't be true. First, Trump's uncle died in 1985, and Kaczynski was not publicly named the Unabomber until 1996. Secondly, Kaczynski didn't go to MIT.
Later that month, during a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Trump abruptly switched from discussing immigration to ranting about “windmills.” Talking non-stop and without prompting, within two minutesTrump claimed without evidence that they drive whales “like a locomotive” and that wind energy “kills birds” (percentage of birds killed by turbines tiny compared to the number of domestic cats killed and flying onto power lines).
Another incident that raised questions about Trump's state of mind occurred in September. Trump summoned the nation's top military commanders to a meeting in Virginia and gave them a speech in which he touted his supposed successes before saying the following:
America is respected as a country again. We were not respected with Biden. They watched him fall down the stairs every day. Every day a guy falls down the stairs.”
Trump continued:
I said, “This is not our president. We can't have it. You know, I'm very careful when I go down because… it's like I'm walking down stairs, like these stairs, I'm very… I'm walking very slowly. Nobody has to set a record, just try not to fall because it won't work. Several of our presidents have fallen, and this has become part of their legacy.
We don't want this. You need to go nice and easy. You don't – you don't have to set any records. Be cool, be cool when you go down, but don't, don't run down the stairs. That's the only thing about Obama: I didn't respect him as a president, but he ran down those stairs, I never saw him – yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, bang, bang, bang, he came down the stairs, he didn't hold on. I said, that's great, I don't want to do that. I think I could do it, but eventually bad things will happen and it only takes one time, but he's done a lousy job as president.”
The White House has repeatedly fielded questions about Trump's mental acuity. Earlier this year, a spokesman told the Guardian that his “mental acuity is second to none” and Ronny Jackson, a Republican congressman who formerly served as Trump's doctor, said he was “the healthiest president this country has ever seen.”
However, speculation about Trump's health is unlikely to stop, the Daily Beast reports. reporting that Democrats plan to make his mental acuity and fitness a key issue ahead of next year's midterm elections.
They will have a fair amount of ammunition. In November, Trump, the oldest person to be inaugurated as president, said he had an MRI but could not remember what part of his body was scanned. Later that month, he also seemed to fall asleep. during the meeting in the Oval Office – the same thing happened during a cabinet meeting at the beginning of December and again two weeks later, at a press conference announcing cannabis reform.
Earlier this year Trump confused Albania with Armenia when discussing a peace agreement with the participation of the latter; discussing autism in a White House speech, he reflected on “certain elements of genius that can be passed on to a child.” Announcing 13 grants for autism research, Trump added: “Nothing bad can happen, only good things can happen.”
Among these moments of confusion were times when Trump attacked uncontrollably. Only in December he said Somali immigrants will become 'garbage' and, in a step that shocked even some republicansessentially accused Rob Reiner for his death.
Trump finds time to say and do these things despite a reduced schedule. On average, Trump's scheduled events begin around noon and typically end at 5 p.m., a shorter workday than in his first term, the New York Times reported. foundand the number of his official appearances decreased by 39%.
A White House spokesman told the Guardian: “Not all of the president's meetings are listed in the daily guidelines that are distributed to the press.”
Liz Houston, assistant White House press secretary, said in an emailed statement: “The Guardian is a left-wing mouthpiece that should be deeply ashamed of publishing this nonsense. As the President's physician, Dr. Sean Barbabella, has made clear time and time again – and as the American people see with their own eyes every single day – President Trump remains in excellent overall health.”
“President Trump's tireless work ethic, unparalleled energy and historic accessibility stand in stark contrast to what we have seen over the past four years, when a failing legacy media deliberately hid Joe Biden's severe mental and physical decline from the American people. The promotion of these false and desperate narratives about President Trump is now why Americans' trust in the media has just fallen to a new all-time low.”
Pew Research Center survey in November, it found that 56% of U.S. adults “say they have a lot or some confidence in the information they receive from national news organizations,” down 11 points from March 2025 and 20 points from 2016.
In the same month A. vote According to Gallup, 36% of American adults approve of Trump's performance, the lowest rating of his second term. Earlier this year YouGov found that half of Americans think Trump is too old to be president.
Throughout the year, the White House has fiercely defended Trump against accusations that he is in decline. But questions about Trump, who turns 80 in June, are unlikely to go away.
