Shorter Days, Signs of Fatigue: Trump Faces Realities of Aging in Office

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/us/politics/trump-age-health.html

https://archive.ph/Wq5xd

Shorter Days, Signs of Fatigue: Trump Faces Realities of Aging in Office
President Trump has always used his stamina and energy as a political strength. But that image is getting harder for him to sustain.
By Katie Rogers and Dylan Freedman
Nov. 25, 2025

The day before Halloween, President Trump landed at Joint Base Andrews after spending nearly a week in Japan and South Korea. He was then whisked to the White House, where he passed out candy to trick-or-treaters. Allies crowed over the president’s stamina: “This man has been nonstop for DAYS!” one wrote online.

A week later, Mr. Trump appeared to doze off during an event in the Oval Office.

With headline-grabbing posts on social media, combative interactions with reporters and speeches full of partisan red meat, Mr. Trump can project round-the-clock energy, virility and physical stamina. Now at the end of his eighth decade, Mr. Trump and the people around him still talk about him as if he is the Energizer Bunny of presidential politics.

The reality is more complicated: Mr. Trump, 79, is the oldest person to be elected to the presidency, and he is aging. To pre-empt any criticism about his age, he often compares himself to President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who at 82 was the oldest person to hold the office, and whose aides took measures to shield his growing frailty from the public, including by tightly managing his appearances.

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The president appeared drowsy during a meeting in the Oval Office earlier this month. Doug Mills/the New York Times



Makeup seen in recent months on the back of Mr. Trump’s right hand, which officials say is to cover bruising caused by handshaking. Doug Mills/The New York Times



Mr. Trump during a 9/11 commemoration event at the Pentagon in September. Kenny Holston/The New York Times

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