Trump’s Sign of Aging That’s Harder to Hide

President Donald Trump’s attempts to avoid showing signs of aging have been an ongoing battle since his return to office.

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However, the reality show facade has repeatedly slipped thanks to his bruised hands, swollen ankles, and increasing tendency to wander off—just like Joe Biden used to.

In their new book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, New York Times correspondents Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan wrote, “He was also having trouble hearing, asking people to repeat questions they had just asked.”

They reported that joint press conferences with world leaders “were more often held in the Oval Office than in the East Room, in part because the acoustics were better, and he didn’t have to stand for an hour.”

But that has not prevented the president from straining to hear what is said or publicly requesting a line be repeated since returning to office.

While the memo from the president’s most recent physical from the White House physician stated “Hearing is intact,” at times, Trump has looked around in confusion or even responded with something completely unrelated based on what he thought was said.

In September, Trump was answering a reporter’s question during a White House dinner while seated next to first lady Melania Trump when he was asked about speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The president turned to his wife to ask, “What?”

The first lady could be seen leaning in to Trump as she repeated the question in his ear, “If you will speak with President Putin in the near future?” so he could respond.

In one awkward exchange last November, the president misheard NBC News reporter Garrett Haake, who said it sounded like there was a “follow-up there” while questioning Trump in the Oval Office.

The president asked him to repeat himself before admitting he didn’t hear the words “follow-up”and “I thought you said there was a polyp.”

In October, at a White House roundtable on ANTIFA, the president could be seen raising his hand as if gesturing for a reporter to speak louder. After calling on another reporter who did not speak as loudly, the president gestured toward his ear as if he could not hear and moved on to call on another reporter, while then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, seated next to him, looked on.

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On another occasion last July, the president struggled with the words “burn bag” and made the reporter repeat it before joking he thought she said something about appointing a man named “burn bag.”

When a Fox News reporter, Danamarie McNichol, asked him about detainees spending time in Florida last summer, he first asked her to repeat the question, but then still misheard and went on to talk about how much time he would be spending in his home state.

The Daily Beast asked the White House if the president has received any recommendation from his physician to use hearing aids since his return to the White House and received a Biden-bashing statement in response that did not address the question.

“President Trump’s sharpness, unmatched energy, and historic accessibility stand in stark contrast to what we saw during the last administration when Democrats and the legacy media intentionally covered up Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people,” said spokesman Davis Ingle. “President Trump is the sharpest and most accessible President in American history who is working nonstop to solve problems and deliver on his promises.”

At other times, the president has also said he cannot understand reporters due to their accents.

At his press conference wrapping up the G7 summit last week, Trump misheard a Japanese reporter’s question in English, where he thought he said “air force” when he was asking about “military force.”

The president turned to Secretary of State Marco Rubio to clarify, and the top diplomat could be heard quickly in Trump’s ear, asking, “Have you asked any country to send military force?” The president at the event also had an American reporter repeat what he said.

There was also a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last February, when Trump praised a reporter from Afghanistan’s “beautiful accent” but said “I can’t understand a word you’re saying.”

In October, he asked a French reporter questioning him about the Israeli vote to annex the West Bank if she could “say that louder please” as he leaned in.

After she repeated herself, he turned to the official next to him to answer it.

But Trump was not as tolerant at a press conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year, when he immediately cut off a reporter seconds after he began to speak.