Hillary Clinton supporters within the media are working overtime to make Donald Trump’s health an issue. Any angle seems to be a worthy angle, as long as the focus can stay off of Hillary.
On September 14, the New York Times headlined a piece titled ‘Donald Trump Checkup Said to Reveal He Is Overweight’. To most Americans, that should seem hardly newsworthy. The National Institute of Health states that 74% of American males are considered to be obese or overweight.
{mosads}For women that number is 67%, and it’s fair and reasonable to assume that Hillary herself falls into that 67% category. But it’s highly unlikely that Hillary’s weight will be something of media worth.
Not content to simply cause the electorate to fret about Trump’s weight, the Washington Post ran a piece which focused more on his doctor than on his health. Attacking the credibility of his physician was a blatant attempt to undermine the reports of his being in good health.
They even went so far as to note that in one letter from his physician it was indicated that Trump had an appendectomy at age 11 and in a separate letter it was stated as age 12. Troubling indeed.
Even Dr. Oz, who interviewed Trump on his show on Wednesday, has come under attack for opining in a positive manner about Trump’s health.
The Washington Post also ran a piece stating that considering his age, his weight becomes a significant risk factor. Citing an NIH paper about the effects of obesity (we’ve moved from overweight to obese) the piece painted a dire picture of the ails an obese Trump faces. Obese is a far cry from “slightly overweight”, which is what Dr. Oz declared Mr. Trump to be.
And while Hillary touted her transparency about her health and indeed all matters on a radio interview this week, saying she’s “worked real hard” to be open, her doctor revealed for the first time that she had minor surgery in January for an ear infection, followed up by a CT scan in March to confirm there were no further complications.
One can only imagine the media frenzy if Trump were to release some similar news. In fact, believing Hillary is open and transparent is somewhat akin to believing in the tooth fairy. And although few if any adults believe in the tooth fairy, millions of them apparently do believe she’s ‘worked real hard’ to be open and transparent.
This focus on Trump’s health by the media will fade until Hillary has her next ‘episode’. When she does, the liberal media will again try to push the ‘health spotlight’ in Trump’s direction, clamoring for anything to grab ahold of.
It’s not yet been reported which pharmacy Trump gets his prescription medicine from, but we can be assured that once it’s revealed the media mass will be at their door with cameras, microphones, and questions whose answers will form the basis for enlightened pieces about Trump nearly being on his deathbed.
If you watch the left leaning media, which I sometimes do just to check out the opposition, you’d find it difficult to determine what the left is more interested in — Trump’s health or Trump’s tax returns. The current near obsession with both drowns out all but the most glaring of Hillary’s many issues.
Bill Cowan is a FOX News Channel contributor and internationally acknowledged expert in the areas of terrorism, homeland security, intelligence and military special operations. A retired Marine Corps officer, Cowan spent three-and-a-half years on combat assignments in Vietnam.
The views expressed by Contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.