It turns out fans of Donald Trump’s granddaughter might have spotted hints about the president’s health long before anyone else did. Eagle-eyed viewers of 18-year-old Kai Trump’s YouTube vlogs noticed that Trump appeared to have a heavily bruised right hand in one of her older videos — months before it ever became a talking point in the media.
Kai accidentally drew fresh attention to it this week after posting a sentimental Instagram tribute celebrating one year of her YouTube journey. “One year ago, I started my YouTube channel not knowing what to expect… and it’s turned into something so special,” she wrote in her post, which featured a 16-photo carousel including an image of her and Trump on election night.
The snap was taken at Mar-a-Lago, during Trump’s watch party as election results came in. But a key detail that had slipped under most people’s radar at the time was the odd, thick layer of makeup covering the bruising on Trump’s hand.
Trump briefly addressed the issue in a December 2024 interview with TIME magazine, saying the bruises were nothing more than a result of “shaking hands with thousands of people.” Still, the hand makeup became a recurring feature at public appearances — and fans began speculating about what it might be hiding.
By February, the White House stepped in to calm the chatter. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told NBC News that the president “has bruises on his hand because he’s constantly working and shaking hands all day, every day.”
Then in July, Trump’s doctor, Sean Barbabella, issued a memo explaining that the bruising was “consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin, which is taken as part of a standard cardiovascular prevention regimen.”
He reassured the public that the marks were “a well-known and benign side effect of aspirin therapy.” That same memo addressed another visible health concern — Trump’s swollen ankles. According to Barbabella, the swelling comes from chronic venous insufficiency, a fairly common condition where veins have trouble pumping blood back to the heart.
Even so, questions about Trump’s health haven’t stopped swirling. Critics and psychologists have suggested he might be showing early signs of dementia, pointing to several high-profile slip-ups, like forgetting his own inauguration year or the name of a top cabinet member.
“We have to see a major deterioration in functioning in language and thinking and psychomotor performance and impulse control and a whole variety of areas,” psychologist Dr. John Gartner told The Daily Beast podcast. “There are times when he’s really unable to complete a thought. Sometimes he’s unable to complete a word.”
Still, the White House has continued to insist everything is fine. “President Donald J. Trump remains in exceptional health, exhibiting strong cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, and physical performance,” Barbabella wrote in his latest October medical report.
Even with the bruises, the cankles, and the mental flubs, Trump seems determined to prove he’s still got it — though his granddaughter’s videos might be telling another story.
