Donald Trump, 79, Shows Off His Swollen Cankles During Meeting With Canadian Prime Minister as Dementia Rumors Mount

Donald Trump is once again stirring up concern about his health.

On Tuesday, October 7, the 79-year-old president was photographed revealing his noticeably swollen ankles while meeting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office. As the two leaders chatted, Trump’s cankles could be seen bulging over his shiny black dress shoes — a striking contrast to Carney’s leaner frame.

Interestingly, live footage from the event seemed to avoid showing or cropping too close to Trump’s feet.

When asked about the photos, White House spokesman Kush Desai brushed off any health worries.

“President Trump has tremendous health,” Desai told an outlet. “He’s a champion-level golfer with the vitality, mental acuity, and energy levels that most young people could not fathom having.”

This isn’t the first time Trump’s health has raised eyebrows.

Back in August, CBS News reporter Ed O’Keefe pressed Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt about whether the president’s physician — who declared him “in great health” in April — was available to speak following the appearance of new photos showing Trump’s swollen ankles and bruised hands.

“I don’t want to make that commitment on behalf of the physician,” Leavitt replied. “It’s something we can look into out of transparency, because unlike the previous White House, there is nothing to hide.”

Leavitt doubled down on Trump’s stamina, saying, “You guys see this president working around the clock, literally 24/7, all of the time. He’s moving, he’s working, he’s continuing; there have been no adjustments made to his lifestyle.”

Trump previously revealed that he had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) — a condition that causes swelling and skin changes due to improper vein function. The announcement comes after he was spotted with swollen ankles at the FIFA Club World Cup Final in July. He was also seen at multiple events concealing bruises on his right hand with flesh-colored makeup.

Initially, Leavitt dismissed the bruises as a result of Trump’s frequent handshakes. But days later, she admitted the president had been evaluated by White House physician Sean Barbabella.

“In recent weeks, President Trump noted mild swelling in his lower legs,” she said. “Out of an abundance of caution, this concern was thoroughly evaluated by the White House medical unit.”

Speculation about Trump’s mental state has also intensified. Psychologist Dr. John Gartner claimed he’s observed a cognitive decline, which can be a symptom of dementia.

“We have to see a major deterioration in functioning in language and thinking and psychomotor performance and impulse control,” said the former Johns Hopkins professor and co-host of the “Shrinking Trump” podcast. “What a lot of people don’t realize is that Donald Trump used to be a very articulate person.”

“He used to speak with a high level of vocabulary in very polished paragraphs. Now not only has his vocabulary gone down, but there are times when he’s really unable to complete a thought — sometimes even a word,” Gartner continued.

The medical expert pointed to one of Trump’s 2024 speeches, where he went off on a tangent about Hannibal Lecter.

“He was lying and saying that they’re sending all these immigrants from insane asylums, right? And then he goes, 'Silence of the Lambs. Anyone seen Silence of the Lambs?’” Gartner said.

He added, “Well, first of all, Hannibal Lecter is a fictional character, so he can’t be the ‘late great’ anything.”

According to Gartner, the combination of Trump’s narcissism and possible dementia is “the worst case scenario.”

“So that’s what we started out [with] as a baseline,” he explained. “Now we have this chronic organic deterioration from his own baseline. His judgment was always bad, he was always impulsive, he was always a liar — but now he’s losing his ability to think clearly, to plan, to understand things, and to control his behavior.”