Vice President Kamala Harris is preparing to release her medical history and records to highlight her physical and mental fitness for the presidency. Her campaign is aiming to pressure former President Donald Trump to do the same. The report is expected to affirm Harris’ resiliency to serve as president at the age of 59. The campaign sees this as an opportunity to shift the focus towards the health and mental acuity of Trump, who is 78 years old. Harris’ advisors believe they can use the contrast in ages to challenge Trump to disclose more recent information about his own health.
During the 2020 campaign, Harris did not release her medical records, but now, amid speculation about Trump’s health, she is taking steps to make her own records public. Trump, on the other hand, released a letter from his doctor in November 2023 stating that his overall health was excellent. However, no specific details regarding his vitals or medications were provided. In a CBS News interview, Trump expressed willingness to release his medical records and claimed to have had a recent medical exam with a perfect score.
If elected in November, Trump would become the oldest president in U.S. history, raising concerns about his ability to serve effectively throughout his term. The Harris campaign’s focus on Trump’s age reflects a similar strategy employed by the Republican campaign against President Biden when he was a candidate. Trump’s campaign would share clips of Biden stumbling or making verbal mistakes. Biden eventually withdrew from the 2024 race due to Democratic infighting and doubts about his ability to complete a full second term. Harris’ campaign has been using social media to highlight moments where Trump appears to struggle or show signs of aging.
On social media, the Harris campaign has been drawing attention to instances where Trump’s speech seems slurred or disjointed, insinuating that these could be signs of his age affecting his ability to lead effectively. By pointing out moments of confusion or incoherence, Harris’ team is attempting to frame Trump as unfit for another presidential term due to his age. This strategy is reminiscent of the tactics used by Trump’s campaign to cast doubt on Biden’s cognitive abilities during the 2020 election cycle.
In the upcoming release of Kamala Harris’s medical records, her campaign seeks to establish her physical and mental readiness for the presidency while simultaneously putting pressure on Donald Trump to do the same. By emphasizing the contrast in ages between Harris and Trump, the campaign aims to shift the narrative towards the health and mental acuity of the 78-year-old former president. This strategy mirrors previous approaches used during election campaigns to highlight the age and fitness of candidates as factors in their ability to serve effectively as president.
