--- title: "Trump Rages as His Swollen Legs Are Scrutinized" description: "Donald Trump is finally taking on the media haters who keep clowning him for his cankles — though of course, he isn't mentioning the context." date: "2025-08-22" modified: "2025-08-22" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/trump-rages-swollen-leg-scrutiny" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "donald trump" - "health" - "msnbc" - "veins" --- # Trump Rages as His Swollen Legs Are Scrutinized ![Donald Trump is finally taking on the media haters who keep clowning him for his cankles — though of course, he isn't mentioning the context.]() *\Image: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty / Andrew Harnik via Getty / Futurism\* Last month, the [White House revealed]() that president Donald Trump's "mild swelling in his lower legs," [visible in press pool photos](), was the product of chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), a disorder that causes blood to pool in the extremities rather than pump back to the heart. Life since that July admission has, for the most part, gone on. But a few pundits have started poking fun at Trump's "cankles" — and now, this [infamously vain]() president is crying "fake news" to distract from his vein disorder. In a fresh broadside, *MSNBC* anchor [Chris O'Donnell joked]() that the White House may be engaged in a cankle coverup after Trump was filmed sitting behind the Oval Office's Resolute Desk during a recent meeting with European leaders instead of sitting on the couches with them, as is customary. He did so, O'Donnell quipped, so that "no one was going to compare his ankles to a French president’s ankles or a German chancellor’s or a British prime minister’s." Having already been caught with his swollen ankles exposed in photos from [last week's Alaskan summit]() with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Trump wasn't going to get caught by photographers twice. Unfortunately for him, the O'Donnell had a punchline for that one too, noting that Putin's "72-year-old ankles showed none of the mileage" of Trump’s, who is seven years the Russian president's senior. Like [many]() [observers](), O'Donnell pointed out that Trump's "lifetime of McDonald’s junk food" seems to have [caught up with him]() vis-à-vis his CVI diagnosis. Those jabs may have been a bridge too far for the American president, who finally entered the fray without specifically addressing the cankles in question. In a post on his [failing Truth Social]() platform, [Trump raged]() in old-school all-caps about *MSNBC*, citing its [recent announcement]() that it would soon change its name to the [regrettable *MS NOW*]() as a result of being spun out from Comcast and NBCUniversal. "MSNBC IS DOING SO POORLY IN THE RATINGS THAT THEY ARE LOOKING TO CHANGE THEIR NAME IN ORDER TO GET AWAY FROM THE STENCH OF THEIR FAKE NEWS PRODUCT," the president fulminated. "SO MUCH FUN TO WATCH THEIR WEAK AND INEFFECTIVE OWNER, ''CONCAST,' HEADED BY DOPEY BRIAN ROBERTS, HOPELESSLY AND AIMLESSLY FLAILING IN THE WIND IN AN ATTEMPT TO DISASSOCIATE ITSELF FROM THE GARBAGE THAT THEY CREATED!" "MSNBC," Trump continued e-shrieking, "IS A FAILURE BY ANY NAME!!!" As cringey as the rebrand is, it's telling that the president is only mentioning it now, after one of his longtime critics at the outlet took on his vanity and health — a possible sign that Trump, who once claimed he could [shoot someone on Manhattan's 5th Avenue]() and get away with it may be developing cracks in his once-formidable armor. **More on Trump:** [*Trump's Limbs Are Looking Awfully Swollen*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()