A prominent U.S. medical expert has claimed that President Donald Trump suffered a stroke, citing what he described as observable changes in the president’s movement, speech, and behavior, including footage of Trump descending the stairs of Air Force One.
Speaking on The Court of History podcast, Professor Bruce Davidson of Washington State University’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine said, “My impression is that President Trump has had a stroke, and I think there’s several lines of evidence supporting that,” adding, “I think his stroke was on the left side of the brain, which controls the right side of the body.”
Davidson pointed to episodes of shuffling gait, slurred speech earlier in 2025, excessive daytime sleepiness, and Trump holding the banister with his left hand despite being right-handed, saying these signs were “consistent with having had a stroke.”
Trump, 79, has repeatedly said he is in excellent physical and mental health, a position backed by the White House, though Davidson questioned Trump’s disclosure that he takes a full aspirin daily, arguing such a dosage is typically prescribed “solely, only for prevention of recurrent repeat stroke.”
While dismissing claims of dementia and saying there was no current basis to invoke the 25th Amendment, Davidson said, “There is no need to get all exercised about that issue. But I think it’d be good for the public to be informed.”