When Donald Trump revealed that Republican congressman Neal Dunn would have been “dead by June” if not for White House doctors who treated the representative’s reportedly terminal condition, many were shocked by his disclosure.
The president’s comments last week, which unfolded during a meandering presser with Republican House speaker Mike Johnson and Kennedy Center leaders, came after Trump prodded the top politician for details on Dunn’s health.
The response from Johnson, who weeks ago reportedly told donors that Dunn might have a fatal health condition, suggested that he was taken aback by Trump’s comment. He responded: “OK, that wasn’t public, but yeah, OK. It was grim, that’s what I was going to say.”
Trump’s statement prompted criticism and even surprised some observers who have grown used to his shock-jock-like antics when it comes to other political figures. But Trump for years has bragged about his physical and mental vitality – and made fun of others’ physical conditions – despite what some have described as intense caginess about his own health, including a recent neck rash.
His statement about White House doctors also coincides with fallout from the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies, resulting in surging healthcare costs for millions of Americans who could only dream of world-class care under the best of circumstances. And then there’s the matter of US political culture: what is America to make of a gossipy head of state with no filters?
Veterans in politics and etiquette tell the Guardian that such a disclosure, albeit unsurprising, is unbecoming and could further normalize crassness in American public life.
Rosalinda Oropeza Randall, a San Francisco-based etiquette expert, told the Guardian that there are very few situations where disclosing someone’s health information is acceptable. “I really don’t think it’s appropriate at almost any time,” Randall said.
One of the few appropriate circumstances might involve an agent parent with a terminal diagnosis, she said. A person might want to disclose this to their sister or close family member, for example, “and you know that that parent would love to see that sibling one more time”.
Randall said that it was “an extremely generous gesture” for Trump to offer Dunn medical treatment, but noted that etiquette typically stipulates that people do not publicize their generosity.
She also said that the public doesn’t know about any behind-the-scenes conversations between Trump and Dunn about this disclosure, so perhaps they had reached an agreement.
That said, Randall felt the tone seemed off. She alluded to Trump’s comment about helping Dunn, which was: “I did it for him first and for the votes second. But it was a close second, actually.”
“Because this particular president jokes and just throws things out at random, I was not surprised,” she said. “While he says, ‘I really care about him’ and he added, ‘Yeah, but I want his vote,’ that can come across as very cold and calculated.”
Brittany Martinez, a Republican strategist and executive director of Principles First, voiced similar sentiments about propriety and said she believes the disclosure was “pointless”.
“I think it’s just inappropriate for a president of the United States to essentially out the healthcare diagnosis of a member of Congress.
“Thankfully, it sounds like he’s getting healthier. That’s great news for him and his family,” she said. But, “I thought it was strange and inappropriate for him to chime in– and then not just chime in, but obviously use the language of ‘he would have been dead by June’”.
It’s unlikely there will be political ramifications, however.
“The president has said much worse,” Martinez said. “Of course, I do think that this is pretty abhorrent but no, I think he’ll get zero pushback, essentially, on this.”
Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic strategist, said this kind of behavior is “pretty much the story in Trumpland” and doesn’t foresee blowback.
“It’s another drop in the bucket. It’s more of the same. What do people expect?” he said. “I don’t expect anything else.”
That said, however used to this type of behavior people might be, it could affect how regular citizens conduct themselves.
“It does lower the bar,” he said. “People in public life are supposed to be much more reflective of their behavior. They’re supposed to be models for appropriateness and for integrity and decency, and that decency is defined by how they deal with others.
“When that changes, at some point, it becomes funny, but then after a while, it becomes not so funny, it becomes dangerous and it allows for behaviors that should not be tolerated, to be tolerated.
“When leaders say things, they tend to have an impact, regardless of what they may think – because they’re leaders.”
Dunn’s office did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment. Florida Politics reported that hours before Dunn posted a video on X saying he felt “lucky to be here”, his office “declined a request to comment on Trump’s remarks”.
Asked for comment, a representative for Johnson noted the speaker’s prior response to a question about Trump’s disclosure: “I talked to Neal last night. He’s completely fine that he has a great new lease on life, and he feels very healthy and he’s great.”
The White House bristled at questions about appropriateness as well as an effort to follow up on questions about his rash. Several weeks ago, the White House said that the Guardian’s questions about skin creams and conditions, including whether Trump wore sunscreen, were “false and slanderous allegations”.
The White House also said that Trump and chief of staff Susie Wiles had discussed publicly disclosing her breast cancer diagnosis before doing so.
“President Trump’s sharpness, unmatched energy, and historic accessibility stand in stark contrast to what we saw during the past four years when failing news outlets like the Guardian intentionally covered up Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people,” said Olivia Wales, a White House spokesperson
“Unlike the Biden White House, President Trump and his entire team have been fully open and transparent about the President’s health, which remains exceptional. President Trump coordinated the TRUTH post about Susie with her and she approved it.
“This is a non-issue from a fake news reporter. Pushing these fake and desperate narratives now about President Trump is why Americans’ trust in the media just fell to a new all-time low,” Wales’s statement also said.
As for the rash, they pointed to a statement from Sean Barbabella, the White House doctor, that Trump “is using a very common cream on the right side of his neck, which is a preventative skin treatment, prescribed by the White House doctor” for one week, with redness expected to subside in several more.
