Donald Trump reacted to Hillary Clinton's early exit from yesterday's 9/11 Memorial Ceremony in lower Manhattan, telling the hosts of Fox & Friends, “Like you, I see what I see. The coughing fit was a week ago, so I assume that was pneumonia also. I think it would have been, so something's going on. I just hope she gets well and gets back on the trail and we'll be seeing her at the debate.”
.@realDonaldTrump on Hillary's health: I hope she gets well, gets back on the trail & we'll see her at the debate pic.twitter.com/1k8vXigpBv
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) September 12, 2016
Trump also said that he had a physical last week and would release the results:
.@realDonaldTrump: I took a physical in the last week and I will release the results this week pic.twitter.com/ELJTdL4oEk
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) September 12, 2016
Clinton has canceled plans to travel to the west coast on Monday in order to recover.
Donald Trump also appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box, where the hosts asked about Clinton's health but in a 30-minute interview, failed to ask even one question about the Trump Foundation and the Pam Bondi charity investigation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwi5nNWeuv8
Clinton's campaign points to several pieces of evidence. She has put forth a 9,000-word plan for defeating ISIS, for example, while Trump says only that he has a plan but it must keep secret. Brooklyn argues that the media has spent more than a year producing critical coverage of Clinton's use of a private email server and Clinton Foundation donations despite several official investigations turning up no hard evidence of corruption; meanwhile, news organizations are under-covering Trump's $25,000 donation to Florida's attorney general and the AG's subsequent closing of an investigation into fraud claims against Trump University, for which he was fined by the IRS.
Over the weekend, Clinton found herself under fire for describing half of Trump's supporters as a “basket of deplorables” even as charges of racism and misogyny among some Trump supporters have been substantiated by video and print coverage of his rallies. And on Sunday, Clinton appearing weak in the heat while leaving the 9/11 Memorial drew alarmed responses about her health, building on one of Trump's favorite attacks on her fitness for office, while his own health and comparable age have received far less scrutiny even though he has produced only a single doctor's letter attesting to his vigor that was dashed off by a gastroenterologist in five minutes, (not to mention his diet of meatloaf and McDonald's).
Such a double-standard wouldn't exist with any candidate but Trump, whose persistent mendacity and eagerness to bulldoze political norms makes him both challenging for media to hold to account and endearing to supporters who are excited to see someone taking an axe to a system they no longer trust.
