The secret history of America’s ailing presidents and the doctors who covered up for them

Let’s talk about the presidents’ health — not only the one we’ve got now but all of them. Their aches and pains and bumps, and how they’ve tried to hide them, and how the nation spent 12 years looking at photos of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and never knew the man could barely walk.

Driven in part by a desire to never be hoodwinked again, America now keeps a much closer eye on the chief executive’s corporeal being, with the concern we usually reserve for our own children.

Is he sleeping enough? Getting enough exercise? Is his temperature normal? Please describe, in detail, the president’s bowels.

Last week, a strange news conference featuring White House physician Ronny Jackson highlighted this concern. After administering President Trump’s annual physical, Jackson went to the press briefing room’s podium and delivered something more like a love letter than a medical update.