President Donald Trump marked the U.S. Navy’s 250th anniversary with a speech that veered into personal territory Sunday, declaring himself the “best physical specimen” among recent presidents while addressing sailors and dignitaries in Norfolk, Virginia.

Speaking aboard the USS George H.W. Bush, Trump was midway through his remarks thanking officials when he turned his attention to Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), his former White House physician and now a member of Congress.

“A man that everybody loves — he was my doctor in the White House and I got to know him very well. He was also the doctor for Barack Hussein Obama. Have you heard of him?” Trump said, drawing laughs from the crowd.

“He was a doctor for a man named [George W.] Bush. And at a press conference they asked him, ‘Who’s in the best shape, who’s the healthiest, who’s the strongest, who’s the best physical specimen of the three?’ He said, ‘That’s easy. President Donald Trump!’ And I said, ‘I love this guy!’”

After pausing for applause, Trump repeated, “I said, ‘I love him!’ Ronny Jackson. He’s now a congressman, you know. So, he was an admiral, he was a chief doctor — he was the whole boss of doctors — and now he’s a very, very successful congressman from Texas. Thank you, Ronny, and I appreciate those words. I’ll never forget them.”

Jackson, who served as Trump’s White House physician from 2017 to 2018, drew national attention for his effusive praise of the president’s health. In a 2018 press briefing, Jackson described Trump as having “incredibly good genes,” adding that “if he had a healthier diet over the last 20 years, he might live to be 200 years old.”

At that same briefing, Jackson said Trump scored a perfect 30 out of 30 on a cognitive test and told reporters, “I have absolutely no concerns about his cognitive ability.”

Trump has frequently cited those remarks in the years since, often using them to emphasize his physical stamina and mental acuity compared to his predecessors.

Trump also revisited his long-standing claim that he predicted Osama bin Laden’s threat to the United States before the September 11 attacks, saying he deserved credit for the warning, noting that he mentioned Osama bin Laden in his 2000 book The America We Deserve. 

“And history will never forget that it was the SEALs who stormed the compound at Osama bin Laden and put a bullet in his head. Remember that?” Trump told the audience.

He continued: “And please remember I wrote about Osama bin Laden exactly one year before he blew up the World Trade Center. And I said, ‘You gotta watch Osama bin Laden.’ And the fake news would never let me get away with that statement unless it was true.”

Trump said he had warned that the U.S. needed to “take care of” bin Laden, adding, “They didn’t do it. A year later, he blew up the World Trade Center. So, we’re gonna take a little credit, because nobody else is going to give it to me. You know the old story — if they don’t give you credit, just take it yourself.”

Trump’s 2000 book mentioned bin Laden once but did not predict a specific attack or call for him to be killed. The book warned that the United States faced the risk of a major terrorist attack that could surpass the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, though it did not name bin Laden or al-Qaeda as responsible.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)