President Trump tore into a Reuters reporter on Thursday after the journalist suggested that health problems or travel fatigue might be behind the president’s decision to cancel a weekend campaign rally in Kansas.
The exchange happened on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. Trump had been scheduled to travel to Salina, Kansas, over the weekend to rally voters for Republican candidates, just days before Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Trump explained the change to reporters. He said the Kansas senator he had planned to stump for is doing well and doesn’t need a personal visit.
A Reuters reporter then asked the president how he was feeling, and whether the cancellation had anything to do with his health or with being tired of so much travel.
Trump said he was feeling “very good.” He also predicted that many Republicans would win on Tuesday. When the reporter pressed further, the president didn’t hold back.
“Oh, you’re sick to ask that question. You are sick,” Trump said.
He asked the journalist which outlet he worked for. When the reporter said Reuters, Trump took a shot at the wire service. He then turned to the reporter’s appearance, calling him out of shape and telling him to get in shape. Trump also insisted that he himself feels “perfect.”
At one point the president asked the reporter whether he was a sick person. The reporter replied, “Not that I know of, sir.”
The White House’s rapid response team quickly circulated the clip on social media and highlighted the president’s pushback.
Trump has kept up an aggressive, near-daily campaign schedule throughout October, crisscrossing the country for Republican candidates. At several recent rallies, he has told crowds that the travel has left him hoarse.
The Kansas stop wasn’t the only change to the president’s itinerary this week. Trump also scrapped a planned rally in Iowa in what CNN described as a late shift in campaign strategy.
Questions about the 80-year-old president’s health have followed him for months. Trump underwent an MRI at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in October. The White House physician, Sean Barbabella, described it as part of the president’s ongoing health maintenance plan. Trump has said he is willing to release the results and calls them “perfect.”
This isn’t the first time in recent weeks that Trump has sparred with the press. Earlier this month, he cut off a reporter in the Oval Office who began asking about the legal fight over his planned renovation of the East Potomac golf course in Washington. “Quiet,” Trump told the reporter.
He has also clashed with other journalists who raised questions about his health, including CBS News’ Weijia Jiang.
Trump’s allies argue that the media is fixated on the president’s age while ignoring his demanding travel schedule. Critics say the White House has been too vague about his medical care.
For his part, the president made clear Thursday that he has no plans to slow down before Election Day.
