Sports podcaster Josh Pate shared a photo showing President Donald Trump’s long-debated swollen ankles. In Rome, Georgia, the president stopped by The Varsity fast-food restaurant before his rally on Thursday.
There, he spoke with sports podcaster Josh Pate. The image was taken during this informal talk, showing Trump seated with his lower legs exposed, revealing pronounced swelling above his shoes.
The post brings speculation around the reason for the president’s “bulging cankles” and sparks fresh controversy around his health condition.
Trump’s “cankles” and health issues
The White House has maintained that Trump’s ankle swelling is due to chronic venous insufficiency, a disorder that affects many elderly people and causes the veins in their legs to fail to pump blood back up to their hearts.
The Daily Beast reported that Trump, last week, when seated next to 65-year-old Colombian President Gustavo Petro at the Oval Office, he accidentally showed his “cankles.”
Trump has also previously acknowledged that he used compression socks to treat his cankles but quit because “I didn’t like them” in an open interview with The Wall Street Journal over growing health issues.
Moreover, when the Daily Beast reached out for a comment on the latest Josh Pate photo of Trump with exposed, swollen ankles, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said, “President Trump is the sharpest, most accessible, and energetic president in modern American history. The only thing swollen is Erkki Forster’s stupidity that will prevent [him] from working for a legitimate news outlet.”
Trump was also caught on camera appearing to doze off during Thursday’s first meeting of the “Board of Peace,” the most recent in a string of public events, when the ageing president seemed to fall asleep, the Daily Beast reported.
Online discourse on Trump’s swollen ankles
Trump’s ankles have been a point of discussion for a long time, with multiple sightings of his swollen ankles. There have been multiple posts zooming in on his ankles and speculation on his health condition.
A post on X with a zoomed-in picture of the 79-year-old president’s ankles by Popular Liberal said, “TRUMP THINKS HE’S SLICK. THAT’S YOUR TAX MONEY STUFFED IN HIS SOCK. HE SIPHONED THE WHOLE TREASURY STRAIGHT INTO HIS ANKLE.”
Another X post commented on Trump’s running abilities in a “circle”. The user,@juliie22793699, wrote, “First of all, Trump can’t run. His cankles forbid him from barely walking. And let’s be honest, Trump doesn’t know what a circle is.”
Another X post from RiotWomenn showed a picture of Trump with Melania Trump in what appears to be a game day picture with swollen ankles. The X user wrote, “Trump has severe cankles or is he wearing double urine bags down both legs? Braces?”
