CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner on Friday stated President Donald Trump’s rationalization of his aspirin use “is senseless.”
Trump, 79, advised The Wall Road Journal that he has a purpose for taking a excessive dose of the drug in opposition to the recommendation of his docs and regardless of the seen bruising it’s precipitated on his arms.
“I need good, skinny blood pouring by way of my coronary heart,” he advised the newspaper. “Does that make sense?”
Reiner stated it doesn’t ― noting that blood thinners similar to aspirin don’t actually “skinny” the blood, as Trump appears to suppose.
“It’s not like altering one thing from gumbo to rooster soup,” he stated. “It doesn’t make it thinner. It makes you much less more likely to clot.”
Reiner, who was a longtime heart specialist for the late former Vice President Dick Cheney, stated many sufferers have been as soon as given aspirin to forestall coronary heart assaults, however that recommendation has modified over time, particularly for individuals over 70.
“Not solely is there no profit when it comes to simply major prevention ― making an attempt to forestall a cardiac occasion by giving them aspirin ― that there may be hazard,” he stated. “And the hazard may be bleeding, vital bleeding.”
Trump, he famous, advised the Journal that he’s taking 325 mg of aspirin every day.
“However the dosage that we use for sufferers even with documented coronary artery illness is 1 / 4 that, is 81 mg per day,” Reiner stated. “So why is the president taking an unorthodox dose of aspirin?”
Trump, he identified, has been ceaselessly seen with bruises on his arms. He’s usually used bandages and concealer to cowl them up, as on this picture from December:
Julia Demaree Nikhinson by way of Related Press
The White Home has stated the bruising is because of each aspirin use and frequent handshaking.
Nevertheless, The Wall Road Journal stated there have been “a number of situations” by which his hand has been reduce, resulting in bleeding that has “alarmed” witnesses. One such incident occurred on the 2024 Republican Nationwide Conference when Pam Bondi ― future lawyer common ― high-fived Trump, nicking him with a hoop within the course of.
Trump within the WSJ interview dismissed it as a “slight little reduce.”
The bruises, and use of concealer to cowl them, have turn into a daily a part of his look. The president admitted that his docs need him on the decrease dosage of 81 mg per day, however stated he’s ignoring that recommendation as a result of he’s “a bit superstitious.”
That revelation baffled Reiner.
“In case you have been bruising loads, and your physician says you’re on an excessive amount of aspirin, why wouldn’t you go right down to the decrease dose?” he questioned. “It is senseless to me.”
See extra of his evaluation under: