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Donald Trump has bruises on his hands. He occasionally mixes up words and appears to doze off in meetings. He sometimes sounds tired and struggles to walk straight. And according to a story published in New York magazine this week, Trump couldn’t remember the word “Alzheimer’s” while insisting to a reporter that he doesn’t have it.

That list, from Trump’s first year back in the White House, helps explain why lawmakers, reporters, and many voters are paying closer attention to his physical and cognitive health. Trump, 80 in June, is the oldest US president ever at this point in his term (Joe Biden was five months younger when he took office). After widespread public concern about Biden’s age and a surfeit of septuagenarians in both political parties, Americans have rarely been more attuned to the risks of older leaders.

That New York magazine story is subtitled “A good-faith attempt to ascertain the truth about Donald Trump’s health.” The humble claim points to a genuine irony: Despite public interest, learning the truth about a president’s health has never been harder.

US presidents are among the most closely observed human beings on Earth. But that hasn’t stopped them and their allies from obfuscating about their health.

The tradition is almost as old as the republic. In 1813, President James Madison blamed a watch malfunction after illness caused him to miss meetings. Grover Cleveland’s aides concealed a surgery to remove a cancerous tumor. Woodrow Wilson’s wife, chief of staff, and doctor largely ran the White House after a stroke incapacitated him. Ronald Reagan hid how close he came to death after a would-be assassin shot him. Trump downplayed how sick he got from COVID.

Active deception is only one barrier. The president’s health is a matter of national security, yet no law requires transparency about it. In 2024, Biden’s doctor said the president had undergone a “detailed” neurological exam, but not whether it included a cognitive assessment. So even if an intrepid reporter is looking, there may not always be a diagnosis to find.

Trump has resisted revealing much about his health. Yet that hasn’t stopped White House aides from vouching for his stamina and sharpness. Trump’s press secretary says his closed eyes during meetings indicate “actively listening” and has blamed the bruising on shaking too many hands (Trump says he takes more aspirin than doctors recommend, which may be causing it). One physician’s assistant claims Trump is healthier than Barack Obama, who left the White House at 55. Stephen Miller, an anti-immigration aide, calls Trump “superhuman.”

Implausible testaments to Trump’s health, though, aren’t proof that he’s ailing. His unique behavior also makes it hard to gauge whether age is catching up with him.

“For most older adults, what you’re looking for is change,” said Michelle Putnam, the head of UMass Boston’s Gerontology Institute. That can be hard to determine for a man who has long rambled in speeches (Trump calls it “the weave”), posted late-night social-media screeds, and otherwise acted erratically.

Some Democrats call Trump’s efforts to acquire Greenland and overthrow Venezuela’s leader signs of slippage. But there’s also evidence of change. Trump’s workdays are shorter than in his first term, and he held fewer campaign rallies in 2024 than in 2016, which Putnam suggested was a reasonable timeframe to assess potential decline.

Memory challenges and physical changes can indicate impairment, but aging affects people in different ways. Not exercising, poor sleep, and an unhealthy diet like Trump’s generally raise the risk of Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other ailments that get more common with time. Yet Trump — like Biden — doesn’t drink or smoke and has excellent medical care, which correlates with better health.

Mary Trump, Trump’s niece and a longtime critic, says he sometimes has her ailing grandfather’s “deer-in-the-headlights look.” But that isn’t a diagnosis, and medical professionals have long shied away from diagnosing politicians from afar.

Absent a catastrophic health event, what matters may be what Americans see. Biden’s 2024 debate performance reinforced longstanding concerns. But according to a New York Times poll, 58 percent of voters say Trump isn’t too old to be an effective president — the same share who said so before the last election. And in polarized times, it can be easy to ignore the evidence of one’s own eyes.

đŸ§© 8 Across: Visionaries | ⛅ 23° Subzero wind chills

Snubbed: Bill Belichick, who won six Super Bowls as the Patriots’ head coach, failed to get enough votes to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. The Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy calls the snub a “preposterous farce.”

More on the Pats: A judge postponed an arraignment for defensive tackle Christian Barmore, who faces charges of assaulting his child’s mother, until after the Super Bowl. Meanwhile, quarterback Drake Maye’s wife, Ann Michael, is going viral for her custom outfits and charming TikTok presence.

Brave new world: ICE hired a Massachusetts company to build software that lets agents identify potential detainees by scanning their irises.

Mass. exodus: About 33,000 more people left Massachusetts for other states than moved here in the 12-month span ending last July, Census numbers show. Florida, New Hampshire, and New York were popular destinations.

Trump in court: The families of two men killed in US strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats filed a wrongful death suit in Boston, claiming the strikes violated international law. And a nearly complete wind project off Massachusetts can proceed, a judge ruled, after the administration tried to block it.

Francis Gigliotti: Haverhill police officers who piled atop Gigliotti last July won’t face charges in his death, the Essex County district attorney said, claiming they acted reasonably. Gigliotti’s family plans to sue.

Yale: Starting this fall, undergraduates whose families earn under $100,000 can attend and get room and board at the Ivy League university for free. Those whose families earn under $200,000 won’t owe tuition. (NYT 🎁)

State of the arts: Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts will lay off about 6 percent of its staff as the cultural world continues to struggle after the pandemic.

Carver shooting: The man charged with killing two people at a 7-year-old’s birthday party on Saturday claimed he acted in self-defense and pleaded not guilty.

Another artist drops out: Famed composer Philip Glass canceled the planned Kennedy Center debut of his symphony about Abraham Lincoln, saying the symphony’s message was “in direct conflict” with the center’s values after Trump took it over. (AP)

Talented locals: A Weston native became the first American woman to ski 700 miles to the South Pole unsupported and by herself. And though it may look like AI, this video of Somerville residents shoveling snow on unicycles is real.

By David Beard

Virginia Oliver (1921-2026) tossed back an undersized lobster in 2021.Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff

🩞 R.I.P Maine’s ‘lobster lady’: 105-year-old Virginia Oliver began lobstering as an 8-year-old and kept at it until she was 103. “It’s not hard work for me,” she once said.

🏠 Home of the Week: A $2 million schoolhouse near the Berkshires lists for the first time in over three decades. Plus, how to choose a real estate agent.

🚰 Tap or bottled? You may think you’re drinking healthier water, but plastic bottles may nearly double your annual microplastics intake. (WashPost 🎁)

💌 Love Letters: “He’s set in his ways, which, a lot of the time, is without me.”

🍮 Is there a Michelin bounce? Devra First investigates whether the coveted recognition translates into bigger business. Plus, we follow a hospitality king from fry chef to Mistral and Mooo.

đŸ‘© First person: Will all the Karens ever get their good name back?

đŸšČ Bike free or die: A proposed annual $50 bicycle fee in New Hampshire has run into a groundswell of opposition. Readers, should cyclists have to pay? Let us know!

Thanks for reading Starting Point.

This newsletter was edited by David Beard.

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Ian Prasad Philbrick can be reached at ian.philbrick@globe.com.