With all the attention and talk about President Donald Trump repeatedly dozing off during meetings and even press events in recent weeks and sparking intensifying speculation about the state of his health, an old theory of Trump’s about a “life force” and why he doesn’t work out is resurfacing and social media is having a field day.
In a nutshell, Trump believes that a person only has so much energy allotted to them over their lifetime, similarly to a battery, and when it’s burned out that’s it.
It’s the “battery” premise of a so-called “life force” as CNN described it in a story during Trump’s first term in office.
Quoting a profile on Trump in The New Yorker, writer Evan Osnos put it this way: “Other than golf, he considers exercise misguided, arguing that a person, like a battery, is born with a finite amount of energy.”
Trump sees any kind of exercise, except for golf, as an unwarranted depletion of “your battery life,” news outlets reported.
However, he does consider exerting himself while “standing in front of an audience for an hour” as “exercise.’”
Trump’s old explanations for why he doesn’t work out or engage in regular exercise of any sort while engaging well document poor eating habits is now resonating with political observers and has been reframed around the president’s numerous sleepy public appearances.
A post about it on social media went viral and sent users into a frenzy, making hilarious comments and pointed barbs in the wake of all the talk about “Dozy Don” and “Sleepy Donnie.”
Threads user Aaron Parnas first asked his followers, “Did you know that the reason Trump does not work out is that he believes your body is like a battery, and that once you use all your energy, you die?”
He got an avalanche of humorous responses.
“Well! It looks like his battery is low. Make of that what you will,” this poster jokingly said.
“In other words he is lazy as a grub,” this Threads user proclaimed.
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“Someone force him on the treadmill, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD,” one Threads user begged for ominous reasons.
Another person wondered aloud whether the president was even capable of understanding what he was saying, “Why is the leader of the free world so stupid that I don’t know if this is real or satire?”
One commenter took it to an even darker place, “WHY IS HE STILL ALIVE?? His batteries have died… but he is refusing to decompose!!”
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Others drew their own conclusions about Trump’s increasingly visible fatigue.
“Is that why he naps during Cabinet meetings? Sleep mode to live an extra day?” another joked.
The 79-year-old Trump has spent years calling his political opponent former President Joe Biden “Sleepy Joe” and even referred to “Sleepy Joe” before his Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Dec. 2.
He also crowed that he was “sharper than I was 25 years ago,” while scolding the New York Times over a recent story about how he appears to be slowing down.
He said of the newspaper, “Trump is sharp, but they’re not sharp.”
Well, the president was anything but sharp during that Cabinet meeting. A groggy Trump could barely keep his eyes open and appeared to doze off several times during the meeting, at one point nearly falling out of his chair.
The optics of his ongoing fatigue are increasingly hard to ignore or even defend and it’s even more jarring because it’s something Trump bashed Biden for over and over during Biden’s presidency.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt brushed off reporter’s questions at the daily briefing later Tuesday. She claimed Trump was “listening attentively and running the entire three-hour marathon Cabinet meeting,” CNN reported.
She touted his nine Cabinet meetings this year as proof of his stamina.
“In all of these historic meetings, the president and his incredible team highlight the exhaustive list of accomplishments they have delivered on behalf of the American people to Make America Great Again,” Leavitt insisted unconvincingly.
Yet Trump’s growing health issues have been apparent for some time
He’s had swollen ankles from a chronic venous insufficiency diagnosis, pronounced bruising on his right hand, and has delivered long, rambling even nonsensical speeches over the past six months.
He also had two physicals during a six-month span and underwent an MRI in October, which is not the norm for a routine check-up.
On Monday, Dec. 1, the President’s doctor, Sean Barbabella, insisted in a letter the White House released that Trump is “exceptional health” and that his body scans were “perfectly normal.”
But major medical guidelines, including those from the American Heart Association, contradict that explanation, and experts say the memo’s language raised more questions than it answered.
