CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner on Friday mentioned President Donald Trump’s clarification of his aspirin use “is senseless.”
Trump, 79, told The Wall Street Journal that he has a purpose for taking a excessive dose of the drug in opposition to the recommendation of his docs and regardless of the seen bruising it’s precipitated on his fingers.
“I need good, skinny blood pouring by my coronary heart,” he advised the newspaper. “Does that make sense?”
Reiner mentioned it doesn’t ― noting that blood thinners reminiscent of aspirin don’t actually “skinny” the blood, as Trump appears to assume.
“It’s not like altering one thing from gumbo to rooster soup,” he mentioned. “It doesn’t make it thinner. It makes you much less more likely to clot.”
Reiner, who was a longtime heart specialist for the late former Vice President Dick Cheney, mentioned many sufferers had been as soon as given aspirin to forestall coronary heart assaults, however that recommendation has modified through the years, particularly for individuals over 70.
“Not solely is there no profit by way of simply major prevention ― attempting to forestall a cardiac occasion by giving them aspirin ― that there could be hazard,” he mentioned. “And the hazard could be bleeding, vital bleeding.”
Trump, he famous, advised the Journal that he’s taking 325 mg of aspirin day by day.
“However the dosage that we use for sufferers even with documented coronary artery illness is 1 / 4 that, is 81 mg per day,” Reiner mentioned. “So why is the president taking an unorthodox dose of aspirin?”
Trump, he identified, has been incessantly seen with bruises on his fingers. He’s usually used bandages and concealer to cowl them up, as on this picture from December 2025:
The White Home has mentioned the bruising is because of each aspirin use and frequent handshaking.
Nevertheless, The Wall Avenue Journal mentioned there have been “several instances” by which his hand has been minimize, resulting in bleeding that has “alarmed” witnesses. One such incident occurred on the 2024 Republican Nationwide Conference when Pam Bondi ― future lawyer common ― high-fived Trump, nicking him with a hoop within the course of.
Trump within the WSJ interview dismissed it as a “slight little minimize.”
The bruises, and use of concealer to cowl them, have grow to be a daily a part of his look. The president admitted that his docs need him on the decrease dosage of 81 mg per day, however mentioned he’s ignoring that recommendation as a result of he’s “a bit superstitious.”
That revelation baffled Reiner.
“For those who had been bruising quite a bit, and your physician says you’re on an excessive amount of aspirin, why wouldn’t you go all the way down to the decrease dose?” he questioned. “It is senseless to me.”
See extra of his evaluation under:
