Trump’s Limp and ‘Diagnostic’ Dementia Symptom Spark Renewed Health Concerns
A video of former President Donald Trump appearing unsteady while playing with his grandson has ignited fresh debate about his physical and cognitive health, with a clinical psychologist pointing to a specific gait abnormality as potentially “diagnostic” of Frontotemporal dementia.
The concerns arose after footage circulated widely on social media, showing the 79-year-old Trump spending time with his nine-year-old grandson, Theodore Kushner, at the White House Presidential Walk of Fame on November 23, 2025. The pair were seen throwing an NFL football, but observers noted the former president appeared to have difficulty walking in a straight line. The clip, viewed nearly a million times on X (formerly Twitter), prompted numerous comments about Trump’s apparent instability and a noticeable limp.
“Trump’s walk would demand a breathalyser under other circumstances,” one X user wrote, while another joked, “I always walk like that…when I’m drunk.” Several users nicknamed the former president “Limpy Don,” with one stating simply, “Trump is not well…” The footage appears to show the former president dragging his left leg.
These observations come after Dr. John Gartner, a clinical psychologist, publicly raised concerns about changes in Trump’s motor performance. Gartner argued that a deterioration in coordination can be a key indicator of dementia. “When we talk about deterioration from dementia, I was focusing on language because that’s the thing we most observe, but also we always see deterioration in motor performance,” he stated on The Dean Obeidallah Show.
Gartner specifically highlighted what he described as a “leg swing” in Trump’s gait – a semicircular movement of the right leg that appears to lack weight-bearing capacity. He explained that multiple neurologists have identified this movement as potentially “very diagnostic” of Frontotemporal dementia, a relatively rare form of dementia affecting the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain.
“The other thing that’s actually even more diagnostic…if you watch the way he walks, he has what they call a leg swing, where his right he kind of swings it in a semicircle like it’s a dead weight, and he’s just kind of swinging it around,” Gartner elaborated. He further stated that forensic psychiatrist Dr. Zoffman is “absolutely convinced that it’s Frontotemporal dementia that he has because of that telltale right leg swing.”
The former president has consistently dismissed concerns about his health, citing a White House physical examination conducted earlier this year that reportedly found him to be in “excellent cognitive and physical health.” In July 2025, the White House attributed speculation about bruising on Trump’s hand to a diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency, a condition impacting blood flow from the veins.
However, the recent video and the expert analysis it has spurred are likely to fuel ongoing scrutiny of Trump’s well-being as he remains a prominent figure in American politics. The debate underscores the public’s continued interest in the health of high-profile leaders and the challenges of assessing cognitive function from afar.
