President Donald Trump’s noticeably swollen ankles drew renewed attention during his St. Patrick’s Day meeting with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin at the White House on Tuesday, March 17, raising fresh questions about the 79-year-old leader’s health.
While seated in the Oval Office with Martin, Trump’s trouser legs rode up to expose what observers described as bulbous “cankles,” where the ankles looked so swollen they nearly blended into his calves. His black socks appeared puffed around the area, seeming tightly pressed into his usual Florsheim dress shoes.
Photos from the bilateral meeting highlighted a stark contrast between Trump’s enlarged ankles and those of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who all showed comparatively normal ankle appearance.
In July 2025, Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a condition common in older adults where leg veins struggle to return blood to the heart, causing fluid to pool in the lower limbs. In January, he told The Wall Street Journal he briefly tried compression socks for the issue but stopped because he “didn’t like them.”
His swollen legs were also noticeable at a Kentucky rally on March 11 and during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz earlier this month.
The trend continued on March 19, when Trump’s ankles again appeared visibly swollen during his Oval Office meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. The next day he seemed to have difficulty lowering himself to a desk to sign an executive order, extending a leg for support and gripping the desk edges to sit down.
Health matters have become a frequent subject of public debate during his second term. When he took office in January 2025, Trump became the oldest person ever inaugurated as president at 78 years and 7 months, roughly five months older than Joe Biden was at his inauguration. Aside from swollen ankles, the president has displayed dark bruises on his hands, which the White House attributes to frequent handshakes and his higher-than-recommended aspirin use.
Trump has said he’s been taking 325 milligrams of aspirin daily for 25 years—about four times the commonly recommended 81-milligram dose for cardiac prevention. During Tuesday’s meeting, he appeared to have used makeup to conceal a chronic bruise on his right hand.
Some medical professionals have also raised concerns about cognitive decline. Psychologist Dr. John Gartner, founder of Duty to Warn, has pointed to clinical signs he associates with dementia, including phonemic paraphasias such as mispronouncing or failing to complete words (for example saying “mishiz” instead of “missiles”). Other observers report episodes of what they call incoherent “word salad,” trailing off mid-sentence, and growing memory lapses.
Public opinion mirrors some of these worries. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Feb. 18–23 among 4,638 U.S. adults found 61 percent of respondents — including 30 percent of Republicans and 64 percent of independents — described Trump as having grown more erratic with age. Only 45 percent said they considered him mentally sharp and capable of handling challenges, down from 54 percent in a September 2023 survey.
The White House has repeatedly rejected concerns about his health. White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told The Daily Beast on Tuesday that President Trump is the sharpest, most accessible, and most energetic president in modern American history.
The St. Patrick’s Day meeting with Martin covered a range of diplomatic topics, including awkward moments over Iran policy, though the president’s visible health issues drew significant attention.
Medical experts note that chronic venous insufficiency is usually not fatal but can signal underlying cardiovascular problems and reduced mobility in older patients. Proper management generally involves consistent therapies like compression garments and regular activity, which Trump has only intermittently followed.
As he serves his second term, Trump’s visible health issues — from swollen ankles to bruised hands and occasional drowsiness in public — have become a recurring element of his appearances. His choice to avoid recommended treatments like compression socks while continuing an aspirin dose four times the usual prevention level has prompted concern from healthcare professionals about his medical care.
The White House, which promotes itself as the most transparent administration in history, has sidestepped detailed questions about the president’s health, issuing statements that stress Trump’s energy and sharpness rather than addressing specific medical issues.
