Chapter 3 - Cultivating Legitimacy Through Performance

Summary

In lieu of the traditional extensive medical record, Donald Trump produced a short physician's note during the 2016 US presidential election campaign. The note, which is dated from 4 December 2015, was remarkable for its brevity, but also because it did not merely attest to the candidate's good health, instead going so far as to boast, ‘If elected, Mr Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency’ (Bornstein 2015). Trump's physician, Dr Harold Bornstein, subsequently explained that he only spent five minutes writing the note before revising that statement again two years later to admit that ‘[Trump] dictated that whole letter. I didn't write that letter’ (Neuman 2018).

The health of presidential candidates continued to be major topic throughout the 2016 campaign. At an event commemorating the 11 September attacks on the World Trade Center, Hillary Clinton was led away and appeared to stumble as Secret Service agents helped her into a van. The Clinton campaign later disclosed that their candidate had been diagnosed with pneumonia and dehydration, and had been advised to rest and revise her schedule. A few days later, Donald Trump appeared on the television show of the controversial TV doctor Mehmet Oz, who has been accused of promoting the work of ‘psychics, homeopaths, and purveyors of improbable diet plans and dietary supplements’ (Specter 2013), to discuss his health and exercise habits further. Though Trump initially agreed on the programme to stay away from the topic of Clinton's health, he answered a series of questions Dr Oz asked about his health (‘OZ: Lung complaints, asthma, wheezing? TRUMP: No, nothing. Really nothing. It's been – people are amazed because I don't get much with the colds.’) and Oz himself continued to bring up Trump's opponent, noting that he was ‘hoping to go over these exact same questions with Secretary Clinton’ (Cillizza and Blake 2016). In the first presidential debate of the 2016 campaign, which was scheduled nine days after Trump's appearance on The Dr. Oz Show, the topic of Clinton's health and ability to perform as president came up again. Trump responded to a question about why he had previously asserted that Clinton did not have a ‘presidential look’, by insisting that ‘She doesn't have the look.