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A week after he was wounded during an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump continues to refuse to release official records about the injury he sustained and the treatment he received.
Instead, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), who served as Trump’s physician during his time in the White House, issued a statement on Saturday with an update on the former president’s condition.
However, Jackson is hardly a reliable source of information. Last month, for example, he claimed without presenting any evidence that President Joe Biden would be on performance-enhancing drugs for his first showdown with Trump.
Of course, anybody who watched that debate knows that this could not be further from the truth.
Let’s also not forget that Jackson was demoted after his stint in the White House. His rank was reduced to captain from rear admiral after an investigation into his behavior found a variety of offenses, such as drinking and using Ambien on the job.
In addition, the House Ethics Committee is also probing Jackson.
In other words, everything he says has to be taken with a grain of salt.
And he didn’t say all that much… especially about Trump’s medical condition.
“As reported and witnessed by the entire world, he sustained a gunshot wound to the right ear from a high-powered rifle used by the would-be assassin,” Jackson wrote.
He added that the bullet came within a quarter of an inch from entering Trump’s head and left a wound that was nearly an inch wide.
Jackson described that there was “significant bleeding at first” but that the wound did not require stitches.
Well, fine.
Here is the problematic part: Even though Jackson says that the doctors at Butler Memorial Hospital did an excellent job of evaluating the former president, including performing a CT of his head, his campaign has not released any of these records.
Why not?
This is especially odd since the campaign has called on Biden to make more information available showing that he is competent to serve another term.
Now it is Trump who is stonewalling the public.
“It’s an understatement to say that it’s bizarre that a presidential candidate has sustained an injury from an attempted assassination and no medical report is issued to describe his evaluation and the extent of his injury,” said Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who was former vice president Dick Cheney’s cardiologist.
For example, following an attempt on President Ronald Reagan’s life, the hospital immediately and frequently made doctors available.
Obviously, providing the public with this information should be a standard response.
Not only do Americans want to hear how Trump is doing, but a release of medical records would also put to rest any potentially erroneous theories about what happened.
For example, following the failed assassination, a hoax document made the rounds on the Internet saying the former president was actually hit by a piece of glass, which would do significant damage to the GOP’s “God had held his hand over Trump” narrative.
Being more forthcoming with medical records would put these rumors to rest.
And, apart from that, Americans from across the political spectrum who were worried about Trump’s health following the shooting deserve to know and be assured that he would be fit to serve another term.
