Representative Ronny Jackson’s time leading the Trump administration’s in-house medical services appears to have colored his perspective on executive drug dependency.
Looking toward Donald Trump’s first match-up against President Joe Biden since he lost four years ago, the former White House physician speculated that Biden would need an extensive cocktail of drugs in order to keep up with his 78-year-old opponent.
“They have to treat his cognition, they have to give him something to think straighter. They have to give him something to wake him up, his alertness. And he’s been agitated, we see that all the time,” Jackson told Fox News Sunday. “That’s a common symptom, or sign of this cognitive disorder that he seems to be suffering from. So they’re probably going to be giving him something that will take the edge off of that as well.”
This sounds like more of an admission than an accusation coming from an individual accused of running a pill mill from The White House by some pic.twitter.com/B4RK3SBxCg
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 23, 2024
But that medical expertise comes after bombshell reports that the Trump White House was “awash in speed,” with staffers popping pills and washing them down with alcohol, in large part thanks to Jackson’s leadership as chief medical adviser. Common pill requests included modafinil, Adderall, fentanyl, morphine, and ketamine, according to a Pentagon report released in January. But other, unlisted drugs—such as Xanax—were equally easy to come by from the White House Medical Unit, according to sources that spoke to Rolling Stone.
Presidential prescriptions aren’t exactly unusual: John F. Kennedy Jr. used his White House doctors to fight off back pain, and Richard Nixon relied on his doctors to treat bad moods. But no previous administration has matched the level of debauchery of Trump’s, when in-office pharmacists unquestioningly handed out highly addictive substances to staffers who needed pick-me-ups or energy boosts—no doctor’s exam, referral, or prescription required.
But that wasn’t all Jackson had to say on the matter, instead continuing to deride White House doctors who “didn’t get” Biden’s drug cocktail “right last time,” during the State of the Union address.
“He came out, and he was obviously much more alert, but he was a yelling, angry old man and he still didn’t make a lot of sense,” Jackson said.
Trump’s debate strategies, meanwhile, including bashing CNN debate moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, and accusing Biden of getting a “shot in the ass” to enhance his debate performance.
“He’ll come out all jacked up.… Whatever happened to all that cocaine that was missing a month ago?” Trump said on Saturday.
Who knows where he got that idea.