Some of US President Donald Trump’s most persistent critics from the right are questioning his health after his unusual behaviour over the weekend.
“Something’s wrong with Donald Trump,” the video from the anti-Trump GOP group The Lincoln Project states. “He’s shaky. Weak. Trouble speaking. Trouble walking. So why aren’t we talking about this?”
The spot, which Fox News reports will run on TV in Washington, D.C., comes after Trump appeared to struggle to lift a glass of water during a speech at West Point on Saturday.
Then, when the event was over, he took an unusually long and deliberate walk down a ramp as he left the stage.
The Lincoln Project ― co-founded by several high-profile conservatives, including attorney George Conway, husband of counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway ― says this and other behaviour raises serious questions about Trump’s fitness for office.
“We’re not doctors, but we’re not blind,” a voiceover in the spot states. “It’s time we talk about this: Trump is not well.”
The video recalls one of the ads the Trump campaign ran against Hillary Clinton in 2016, which questioned the former secretary of state’s health, claiming “she doesn’t have the fortitude, strength or stamina.”
This year, the Trump campaign has attacked Democratic rival Joe Biden over his age, making implications about his mental fitness as well. In one online ad, the Trump campaign said “geriatric mental health is no laughing matter.”
Trump himself has claimed Biden is “not mentally sharp enough” for the job.
But now questions are being raised over Trump’s health and fitness, including a sudden trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in November, referred to in The Lincoln Project’s ad.
His unusual behaviour at West Point only adds to the questions.
Trump has insisted he’s healthy and said the slow and deliberate walk was because the ramp at West Point was “very long & steep, had no handrail and, most importantly, was very slippery,” despite it being a clear day.
He also falsely claimed that in the “final ten feet I ran down to level ground.”
The incident at West Point caused #TrumpIsNotWell to trend on Twitter over the weekend, and the new ad caused the hashtag to pop once again on Tuesday: