- Former President Donald Trump, 77, said he feels 35 years old
- Claimed: ‘I feel better now than I did 30 years ago’
- Portsmouth’s comments came five days before the New Hampshire primary
Donald Trump, 77, assured New Hampshire voters he is fit for office in a bid to Granite State voters just five days before the primary, where he said he felt 35 years old.
Speaking to supporters in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Wednesday, Trump said he feels “cognitively” 20 years younger than he is — and that he feels he is in better shape than he was in his 40s.
It comes after a report from DailyMail.com revealed doctors’ concerns about the former president’s health, claiming he appeared ‘fatigued’.
Trump claimed that his 2024 rival Nikki Haley is confident that left-leaning independents and Democratic voters in New Hampshire will change their registration to vote for her in the Republican primary on Tuesday to thwart his bid.
Former President Donald Trump, 77, said Wednesday at a rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire that he feels 35 years old and is “cognitively” better than he was 20 years ago
Haley, Trump’s U.N. ambassador, has seen a surge in the polls in New Hampshire in recent weeks. Some surveys place her within single digits of Trump — and one from earlier this month puts the two tied at 40 percent each.
The former president also predicted that Florida’s 45-year-old governor, Ron DeSantis, will drop out of the 2024 race “very soon.”
It comes after the Iowa caucuses on Monday produced a disappointing second-place finish for DeSantis, who trailed the ex-president by 30 points. Haley came in third with 19.1 percent of the vote.
New Hampshire is a much more liberal state than Iowa, where Trump walked away with 51 percent of the vote in Monday’s caucuses. Trump and DeSantis are too socially conservative for some Republicans in the state.
Although Trump is the oldest candidate in the Republican primary, he assured voters on Wednesday that he is physically and mentally fit to serve another four-year term.
“I feel like I’m about 35 years old,” he told New Hampshire supporters at a rally in Portsmouth on Wednesday. “I feel better now than I did thirty years ago.”
“Cognitively, I am better now than I was 20 years ago,” he insisted.
Then he remembered what he was told by former White House physician Ronny Jackson, now a Texas congressman: “If he didn’t eat so much junk food, he would be around for another 200 years.”
It is striking that Trump enjoys meals from McDonalds and that his favorite drink is a diet coke.
Trump claimed that 2024 rival and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, 45, will ‘drop out very soon’
The former president took issue with the claimed stellar results of a cognitive test administered by Rep. Jackson while he was still his doctor — and laid out his credentials to President Joe Biden, 81.
The Republican presidential primaries will be held for the second time in New Hampshire on January 23 – just over a week after the first caucuses in Iowa.
According to the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s website, undeclared and independent voters can cast ballots in Republican primaries as long as they decide in advance to participate in those primaries.
Democrats could also switch affiliations before the primaries, a strategy some say is being used to prevent Trump from winning the state.
Trump said Wednesday night that Haley was dependent on these left-wing voters winning and blasted Republican Gov. Chris Sununu for allowing the policy to remain in place.