Donald Trump's behaviour in a recent White House appearance is fuelling fresh questions about the US president's health, after a clinical psychologist and body language specialist suggested he is showing signs of 'breaking down' and 'losing control.'
The latest scrutiny began when a short video of Trump walking away from the camera at the White House was posted online by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Viewers quickly fixated on what appeared to be an odd bulge in the president's trousers, with social media users speculating, sometimes gleefully, that he might be wearing an adult diaper.
That might have been dismissed as internet noise, except one expert who has tracked Trump's behaviour for months thinks it may signal something more serious.
Psychologist Sees 'Complex and Evolving' Issues in Donald Trump
Dr John Paul Garrison, a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist who specialises in body language, has become a familiar interpreter of Trump's public appearances. In his latest video breakdown, he argued that the president appears to be dealing with 'a complex and evolving medical situation' that the public does not yet understand.
Garrison said he was not interested in shaming anyone who might need incontinence aids, whether Trump or anyone else. Instead, he framed the bulge as one data point in a broader pattern that, in his view, suggests neurological decline.
'Needing a medical aid like this can be something as simple as prostate issues,' he said, before adding that what troubles him is the wider trajectory he believes he has seen over 'the past several months.'
According to Garrison, Trump's cognitive and physical decline has accelerated over the last year, something he links to the president's advanced age.
The psychologist warned that some neurological conditions can interfere with basic bodily control. He pointed to strokes, which can 'damage the parts of the brain that manage bowel and bladder control,' and to Alzheimer's disease, which can 'disrupt the communication between the brain and various parts of the body.' In his view, there are 'a number of neurological reasons that we should be concerned about this.'
Donald Trump's Repetition and 'Lowered Inhibition' Raise Fresh Alarm
Garrison dissected not just how Trump moved, but what he said during the same appearance. At one point, Trump repeatedly spoke about 'young, beautiful girls' visiting him at the White House, a phrase he circled back to more than once.
On its face, the line sounded like typical Trump showmanship, with his familiar fixation on youth and appearance. Garrison, however, heard something else. He suggested the repetition might be an example of 'perseveration,' a symptom often linked to neurological problems.
'What perseveration means is basically repeating yourself over and over again because you can't inhibit it, or engaging in a behaviour over and over again because the brain is breaking down and you can't stop it,' Garrison explained.
Trump was not merely leaning on a stock phrase for rhetorical effect. He argued that 'emotions spill out' in these moments that the president 'doesn't want to spill out.' The psychologist described what he called 'a lowered inhibition,' where impulses that might once have been checked now surface unfiltered.
He went further, saying he thought Trump was 'channeling Jeffrey Epstein' with the way he invoked 'young, beautiful girls.' That is a loaded comparison, linking the sitting president's language, however indirectly, to a convicted sex offender whose name still triggers disgust.
It is also where Garrison's analysis edges into territory that will make some readers deeply uncomfortable, even if they are used to Trump's history of provocative comments about women.
Garrison acknowledged that Trump 'has never been the most inhibited individual'. Still, he insisted that 'there's some emotions leaking out here that I don't think are intentional,' and suggested this leakiness is new in degree if not in kind.
The White House has not addressed those specific remarks. No medical professional attached to Trump's care has publicly endorsed Garrison's characterisation of perseveration or inhibition, and there is no independent clinical assessment in the public domain that confirms neurological decline.
Even so, the viral nature of the clip and Garrison's interpretation show how quickly questions about a leader's health can spiral in the modern media environment. A short walk across a room becomes a national Rorschach test.
Trump's critics will see in this analysis confirmation of what they have long suspected, that the man in charge is in worse shape than his aides are letting on. Supporters are likely to dismiss it as partisan psychoanalysis from a content creator building an audience by picking apart every gesture the president makes.
Garrison does produce a lot of material, that much is clear. He has made numerous videos about Trump's gait, posture, hand movements and speech patterns, drawing what he argues are clinically informed conclusions from those tiny details.
Some of his viewers treat these clips almost like sports commentary, frame by frame inspections of a political figure who has dominated their screens for nearly a decade.
Sometimes a strange-looking crease in a pair of trousers is just a strange-looking crease. Social media is notoriously ruthless, especially when it comes to older politicians, and the temptation to mock an elderly man over potential incontinence is not exactly the internet's finest instinct.
Yet it is also true that voters are entitled to know if a president is grappling with serious medical issues, particularly neurological ones that might affect judgement, impulse control or basic functioning. That tension, between privacy and public interest, will not disappear with one psychologist's YouTube video.
Garrison's diagnosis remains an outside reading of public footage, not an official medical record. It has struck a nerve because Trump's health has always been a kind of dark mystery, from the famously glowing doctor's letters to the carefully stage-managed check-ups. When scraps of new evidence appear, people pounce.
