Among the many conspiracy theories being raised by the left following the shooting of Donald Trump on July 13, one of the strangest is the ongoing demands for more of Trump's medical records. They have suggested everything from the theory that Trump was never struck by a bullet at all to the idea that he has been wearing an "oversized" bandage on his ear to elicit sympathy.
One of the few people who would know for sure is Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who has been the official White House physician to multiple presidents including Trump, and has been inspecting Trump's progress almost daily since then. Jackson issued a statement yesterday detailing the nature of the wound and the former President's rate of recovery.
Jackson described the wound as being typical of what one would expect to see from a gunshot wound to that part of the body and it is healing at a normal pace.
“As the former appointed Physician to the President for President Donald J. Trump, I was naturally very concerned, as was the entire world, about his wellbeing after the assassination attempt on his life,” Jackson said in the memo. “As such, I met him in Bedminster, New Jersey, late that evening to personally check on him, and offer my assistance in any way possible.”
Trump faced an assassination attempt last weekend at a rally in Butler, Pa., during which a bullet struck one of his ears. The former president has been recently seen sporting a bandage on the ear that got hit.
“I have been with President Trump since that time, and I have evaluated and treated his wound daily,” Jackson said in his memo. “He is doing well. As reported and witnessed by the entire world, he sustained a gunshot wound to the right ear from a high-powered rifle used by the would be assassin.”
“The bullet passed, coming less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head, and struck the top of his right ear,” Jackson continued. “The bullet track produced a 2 cm wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear. There was initially significant bleeding, followed by marked swelling of the entire upper ear. The swelling has since resolved, and the wound is beginning to granulate and heal properly. Based on the highly vascular nature of the ear, there is still intermittent bleeding requiring a dressing to be in place. Given the broad and blunt nature of the wound itself, no sutures were required.”
According to an interview published earlier this week in The New York Times, Jackson had been onboard Trump’s plane the day following the rally. He redressed Trump’s ear while flying to Wisconsin for the Republican National Convention.
“The bullet took a little bit off the top of his ear in an area that, just by nature, bleeds like crazy,” Jackson told the Times. “The dressing’s bulked up a bit because you need a bit of absorbent. You don’t want to be walking around with bloody gauze on his ear.”
Even for those with no medical training, this probably doesn't sound particularly surprising to most people. The bullet pierced the upper end of Trump's ear after grazing along the inner surface of the ear. The ear is considered to be a particularly hemorrhagic part of the body, meaning that it bleeds more profusely and over a longer period of time because of the number of blood vessels that run very close to the surface. Trump's ear bled quite a bit initially and was expected to continue seeping for days until the wound fully closed. Jackson said that as of Friday, the wound was still "bleeding intermittently." There was also the normal concern over the possibility of infection if it wasn't kept covered and cleaned regularly.
In other words, there was nothing surprising about the need for a bandage for quite a few days after the shooting to anyone who isn't a paranoid, politically motivated conspiracy theorist. The injury wasn't serious enough to require hospitalization or to keep Trump off the campaign trail, but it did require standard care and continued monitoring, if only out of an abundance of caution.
However, that doesn't mean that the calls for a full release of Trump's medical records are all coming from conspiracy theorists. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta says that more information is required, though perhaps for not entirely partisan reasons. He points out that gunshot wounds in that location carry the risk of additional injuries that may not be immediately obvious.
CNN’s chief medical correspondent is calling for a “public assessment” of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s injuries after the attempt on his life, arguing that voters deserve to know the results of a medical evaluation.“A full public assessment of Trump’s injuries is necessary, for both the former president’s own health and the clarity it can provide for voters about the recovery of the man who could become president of the United States once again,” neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta wrote in a Friday article.“The concern is that gunshot blasts near the head can cause injuries that aren’t immediately noticeable, such as bleeding in or on the brain, damage to the inner ear or even psychological trauma.”
It's difficult to accuse Dr. Gupta of engaging in conspiracy theories here. Not being a doctor myself, I will confess that none of the possibilities he suggested came to my mind, but I suppose they make sense. Any bullet can fragment upon impact, potentially resulting in damage to the inner ear that might not be immediately obvious. (Though I imagine they would have discovered that by now.) And I guess any impact in the vicinity of the skull could lead to "bleeding in or on the brain," which definitely sounds risky. I suppose some sort of scan would have to be performed to rule that out entirely.
The bottom line here doesn't have anything to do with politics, or at least not directly. The man was shot. That's serious business. And if you are worried about Trump losing his life to an assassin, you would probably also be concerned about ensuring that he didn't suffer any less obvious injuries. He needs to remain in top fighting shape all the way up until the election. A little paranoia in terms of his medical situation might not be unwarranted.
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