Donald Trump, with red marks on his right hand
Donald Trump appeared in public yesterday with mysterious red marks on his right hand, prompting a flurry of online speculation about the cause of the clearly visible marks, which looked like sores of some type. The New Republic (TNR) tackled the story under the headline "What the Hell Was That Stuff on Donald Trump's Hands?" Writes reporter Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling;
Donald Trump’s hands didn’t look too good on Wednesday, leading to a flurry of theories about the current state of the GOP front-runner’s mental and physical health.
Political advisers and voters alike speculated across the spectrum as to the origin of the dark, red spots on Trump’s hand, arguing that the marks’ origin could be anything from syphilis to ink splotches.
james Carville, former campaign strategist for Bill Clinton, seemed to delight in advancing the syphilis theory
“They don’t look like cuts to me, they look like sores,” said Bill Clinton’s former presidential campaign strategist James Carville, during a livestream. “I’ve asked a number of M.D.s what medical condition manifests itself through hand sores, and the answer is immediate and unanimous: secondary syphilis.”
Carville deserves credit for his hard work on the story. If his goal was to get the syphilis angle out there, it worked, Houghtling writes:
Earlier on Wednesday, syphilis was trending on X, the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Others pondered whether the mysterious condition emerged due to a rash, dry skin, or even as the result of some emotionally charged tantrum.
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Scarborough weighed in with this, while others went different directions, Houghtaling reports:
“Is it magic marker? Because it looks like he has a sore on his index finger there,” said Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
“There was a point during the day where Trump, very frustrated with Judge Lewis Kaplan in the E. Jean Crroll case, banged his hands down on the table. I doubt that the blisters or marks come from that. But could they be exacerbated by that? Perhaps,” speculated MSNBC’s Lisa Rubin.
“Like a toddler having a tantrum, perhaps, and causing bleeding into his hand?” responded Willie Geist.
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted Disease (STD) caused by a bacterial infection. The infection can get into broken skin or mucus membranes, causing sores on the genitals.The number of cases is rising fastest in men who have sex with men. According to a report at the University of Pennsylvania, a common symptom is sores on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet.Some online posters noticed that the emergence of Trump’s mysterious hand condition coincided with a bizarre speech Wednesday night, theorizing that Trump’s cluttered and nonsensical speech could be a symptom of late-stage syphilis, which can develop into neurosyphilis.
“We’re also going to place strong protections to stop banks and regulators from trying to debank you from your—you know, your political beliefs what they do. They want to debank you, and we’re going to debank—think of this. They want to take away your rights, they want to take away your country, the things you’re doing,” Trump said during a New Hampshire campaign rally,immediately before diving into a rant about electric cars.
Primary and secondary syphilis can be cured if they are diagnosed early and completely treated, usually with antibotics, such as Penicillin.
Tertiary syphillis appears in people who have not been treated and can involve serious complications -- including damage to the heart; causing aneurysms and valve disease; central nervous system disorders, such as neurosyphilis; and tumors of the skin, bones, and liver.
Famous people who died of syphilis include painter Edouard Manet, writers Oscar Wilde and Charles Baudelaire, and gangster Al Capone.
Tertiary syphilis is considered a severe disease; it may be permanently disabling, and can lead to death. From a World Health Organization report:
Without treatment, the tertiary phase of syphilis may lead to several complications decades after infection. At this stage, syphilis can affect multiple organs and systems, including brain, nerves, eyes, liver, heart, blood vessels, bones and joints. Tertiary syphilis can also cause death.