Fresh health fears

Gavin Newsom asks 'Where is Trump?' after 'stroke' as president faces fresh health fears

Story by Reanna Smith

Gavin Newsom has sparked fresh health fears about the president after asking whether Donald Trump's staff have started posting since "the stroke".

As the US entered its second day of government shutdown on Thursday, the California Governor slammed Trump for remaining behind closed doors. The official account for Newsom's press office wrote on X: "HAS ANYONE SEEN DOZY DON SINCE HE SHUT DOWN THE GOVERNMENT?"

Parodying the president's trademark all-caps social media posts, Newsom's office added: "ARE STAFF POSTING SINCE “THE STROKE?”" Critics were quick to weigh in on where they think the president may be. It comes as Google responds to claims it's blocking answer to Trump dementia searches.

"He’s comfort eating after his failure to keep the government open," one commented. "Hiding at his golf course again lol," a second wrote. A third noted: "Yes he’s posting AI videos nonstop on Truth Social like a 12 year-old."

But others speculated that there could be something more serious behind the president's disappearance. "JD had been the only spokesman since. Trump was pulled after his speech to the military. His head was cocked left the whole time," one noted.

A second commented: "Which stroke? One, two, five...He's still wearing that heart monitor thing, you can see it on his right shoulder. Think the lack of blood flow to Trump's brain has sped up the dementia."

"His handlers seem to be keeping him out of sight until he leaves for another golf trip this weekend. I am sure that the auto-pen is being used a lot right now," a third wrote.

"He has dementia. They lock him in a room with Fox News on the TV," a fourth said. Another added: "You got to take mental health days when you have his condition."

Trump has faced growing concerns over his health after being spotted with regular bruising to his hand in recent months as well as swollen ankles. In July, the White House attributed the swollen ankles to a chronic vein condition that Trump was diagnosed with.

They described it as "benign" and "common." White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that the bruising was the result of frequent handshaking while taking aspirin.

Following his annual physical in April, the White House doctor said that Trump was in "excellent health, exhibiting robust cardiac, pulmonary, neurological, and general physical function."

Below the caption, Newsom's press office shared a clip of House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries challenging Trump and GOP leaders to meet in front of press on Friday.

"Any time, any place," Jeffries said. "We want to make sure that it's fully transparent so we should absolutely do it in public, so we can air out our positions.

He continued: "They're hiding because they know their positions are indefensible. This is a Trump, Republican shutdown and it's part of what we've seen from them in terms of unleashing extremism from the very beginning of this presidency. This may be day two of the Trump shutdown, it's I think day 256 of the chaos that Donald Trump has unleashed on the American people."

Trump has so far seized on the government shutdown as an opportunity to reshape the federal workforce and punish detractors. On Thursday, he met with budget director Russ Vought to talk through “temporary or permanent” spending cuts that could set up a lose-lose dynamic for Democratic lawmakers.

The Office of Management and Budget announced it was putting on hold roughly $18 billion of infrastructure funds for New York’s subway and Hudson Tunnel projects — in the hometown of the Democratic leaders of the US House and Senate.