The Atlantic staff writer David Frum said Sunday that President Donald Trump is “one of the fattest presidents ever, the least physically capable president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in a wheelchair.”
Frum, a notable Never Trumper who once worked as a speechwriter for former President George W. Bush, told CNN’s “Reliable Sources” that the president is so physically unfit “he can’t pick up a ball.”
“One of the ideas that Donald Trump tried to spread in 2016 is that Hillary Clinton was somehow physically incapable of managing the presidency. It’s audacious, Donald Trump was the oldest presidents ever, one of the fattest presidents ever, the least physically capable president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in a wheelchair.” (RELATED: CNN Cries ‘Sexism’ During Discussion Of Hillary’s Health)
Frum continued, “He can’t pick up a ball, never mind throw it. But he was able to put in the minds of tens of millions of people the idea that Hillary Clinton, who is a very vigorous woman in good health, was somehow too sick to be president.”
The writer made the comments about Trump while the panel was discussing potential Russian interference in the 2020 presidential election and the impact of propaganda memes on affecting voters. After saying the internet “has an effect on people’s affirmative ideas,” Frum launched into an attack on Trump’s weight and a defense of Clinton’s supposed good health but did not explain what either had to do with Russia’s election interference. (RELATED: ‘Saturday Night Live’ Had A Field Day With Hillary Clinton’s Health Problems)
Clinton notably collapsed during the 2016 campaign after being diagnosed with pneumonia.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona, Feb. 19, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
In 2019, White House physician Dr. Sean Conley said Trump was in “very good health” for the presidency. In terms of weight, both presidents William Howard Taft and Grover Cleveland were heavier men in the Oval Office than Trump.
Frum has taken personal shots at Trump before, once telling “Reliable Sources” that the reason the president likes to say he is intelligent is because he had “issues” with his father.