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A journalist and author believes that Donald Trump is hiding his illness with tactics developed in his youth.
17:28, Mon, Feb 16, 2026 Updated: 18:01, Mon, Feb 16, 2026
Rumours about the president's health have circled for months (Image: Getty)
Journalist and author John Casey has revealed the methods used by Donald Trump to hide what many believe to be declining health. The US President has caused masses of speculation since his second inauguration, with several incidences of bruising or make up on his hand and reports that he has been forced to undergo CT scans.
Trump has dodged questions about his health, regularly insisting that he is at peak fitness and casting doubt on the motives of those who suggest otherwise. Casey believes that Trump is using skills learned in his youth from his mentor Roy Cohn to double down on his claims that he is at the peak of his fitness, rather than suffering from the natural effects of old age. He said on the Daily Beast Youtube channel: “His level of theatrical overreaction (to speculation) isn't new; it's the latest, purest expression of lessons Trump absorbed decades ago from Roy Cohn, the ruthless political hitman he once called a second father.
Cohn was a mentor to Trump from the 1970s (Image: Getty)
“Cohn, the hard-edged attorney who rose to prominence as Senator Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel during the Red Scare of the 1950s and later as a New York power broker, built his career on intimidation, political manipulation, and a scorched-earth approach to the law. His life stands as a stark example of how ruthlessness can win influence in the short term while corroding institutions.
“Everyone knows the obvious parts about the Cohn playbook: attack first, sue always, apologise never. But one of Cohn's deepest teachings wasn't about politics—it was about the body.
“It was about hiding vulnerability at any cost. Cohn had AIDS and eventually died from the disease, but as both Nicholas von Hoffman's chilling biography and the HBO adaptation of Angels in America describe, Cohn intently refused to admit his illness.”
Cohn was played by Jermey Strong in the Apprentice, a film centered on the relationship between the pair in 1970s New York.
It showed Cohn, a gay man who never spoke publicly about his sexuality, deal with the consequences of his illness, as he went from a powerful lawyer to a frail old man.
The White House has dismissed bruising on the president's hands as the result of handshakes (Image: Getty)
Casey continued: “He threatened to sue his doctor if the word AIDS was spoken. Even as Kaposi sarcoma lesions spread across his skin, Cohn caked makeup over his sores and gray pallor.
“He went on 60 Minutes insisting he had liver cancer—a desperate attempt to maintain the illusion of control. This strategy wasn't about privacy; it was all about power.
“In his worldview, illness meant weakness, and weakness meant forfeiting control. You didn't admit it, you didn't hint at it, and you certainly didn't let journalists see it.
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“As we're witnessing now, Trump—ever the dutiful protégé—learned that lesson well. Trump doesn't just claim he's fine; he announces that his health is perfect.
“The point isn't medical accuracy; the point is that only a traitor would question the invincibility of King Donald Trump, a 79-year-old elderly man whose perfect days are long behind him.”
English (US) · 