President Trump railed against a report that focused on his age and his schedule at the White House, calling it a “hit piece.”
The New York Times put out an article Tuesday that talks about Mr. Trump’s age and how it has made his second term different than his first.
“The Creeps at the Failing New York Times are at it again,” Mr. Trump wrote Wednesday before going to talk about his 2024 election win and his administration’s accomplishments thus far.
“Yet despite all of this the Radical Left Lunatics in the soon to fold New York Times did a hit piece on me that I am perhaps losing my Energy, despite facts that show the exact opposite,” he wrote.
“They know this is wrong, as is almost every thing that they write about me, including election results, all purposely negative,” he wrote, the last phrase reverting to his all-capital letters style.
Mr. Trump, 79, is the oldest president ever elected.
According to the Times report, Mr. Trump is seen less this administration than his last and has had fewer public events on his schedule. He also has traveled less domestically this administration than he had at this point last term, though the article acknowledged the large number of foreign trips he has taken.
The report also said he keeps a shorter public schedule than he had, with most appearances falling between noon and 5 p.m. on average.
The story highlighted an Oval Office drug price event in October where the president seemed to be dozing off while sitting down.
Mr. Trump did not buy it.
“This cheap ‘rag’ is truly an ‘enemy of the people.’ The writer of the story, Katie Rogers, who is assigned to write only bad things about me, is a third rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out. Despite all of this, I have my highest Poll Numbers, ever, and with record setting investment being made in America, they should only go up,” he wrote.
Mr. Trump acknowledged that “there will be a day when I run low on Energy, it happens to everyone.”
“But,” he concluded, “with a perfect physical exam and a comprehensive cognitive test (‘That was aced’) just recently taken, it certainly is not now!”
A spokesperson for the Times defended the paper’s reporting.
“The Times’s reporting is accurate and built on first hand reporting of the facts. Name-calling and personal insults don’t change that, nor will our journalists hesitate to cover this administration in the face of intimidation tactics like this. Expert and thorough reporters like Katie Rogers exemplify how an independent and free press helps the American people better understand their government and its leaders,” the spokesperson said.
The president has consistently said that he has more energy than “Sleepy Joe Biden,” his nickname for his predecessor who left office when he was 82. He would often rail against Mr. Biden’s mental fitness, and joke that the autopen was running the Biden administration and not Mr. Biden himself.
When he got an MRI scan last month, people questioned what the scan was for, but the administration maintained it was part of his “routine” physical exam.
The medical visit was the second this year for the president, who also received a complete physical in April. It was somewhat unusual for Mr. Trump to return to the hospital for further work because typically, only one exam is done per year.
