Presidential Failures to Disclose

Lawfare has issued a helpful list of major health disasters that Presidents have concealed or failed to disclose…

A much more robust effort to mislead the public developed in 1893 when Grover Cleveland—ironically regarded as a generally honest and forthcoming president—learned that a growth on the roof of his mouth was malignant. Doctors urged quick attention, and Cleveland assented. But to avoid public knowledge of the cancer and the attempt to remove it, Cleveland approved a clever but risky plan.

No hospital visit could be kept private, so the cabal decided to perform the necessary surgery below deck on a yacht owned by a friend of the president, with the bare minimum of secrecy-sworn doctors, while Cleveland was en route to vacation in the Northeast. An oversized chair, to which the rotund president would be strapped, was tethered to one of the ship’s two masts. The plan meant that the president’s life, already at risk from cancer, would be exposed to new dangers: the administration of anesthesia under less than ideal conditions, waves that would make a delicate surgery even more challenging, and the inability of the small surgical staff to deal with any major complications. Thankfully, the waters remained calm, allowing the doctors to remove not only the tumor but also Cleveland’s entire left upper jaw and part of his soft palate, after discovering that the tumor had actually grown through it.

Also, Lincoln had smallpox during the Civil War. Long story short, if Grover Cleveland did it then it’s quite likely that Trump is not going to be forthcoming about the condition of his health.