47⬅ Donald Trump: Excessive Daytime Somnolence

Although Trump has long had many reasons to sleep poorly at night, the major threat to sleeping that has emerged since his first term in office is heart failure MORE, suggesting that his daytime drowsiness is a manifestation of cardiac amyloidosis. If heart failure is making it difficult for him to sleep at night, that could also explain his late-night social media posting.

Introduction

During his second term, Trump's tally of public drowsiness is extensive: in the Oval Office, in Cabinet meetings, at funerals, at sporting events — all eerily reminiscent of William Howard Taft and his severe sleep apnea.

Examples are below.

Asides appear like this.

June 4, 2026. Playable video: https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-explodes-over-viral-video-of-sleepy-donald-trump/

Impact on Governance

It is difficult to imagine a condition more material to the conduct of the presidency than failure to remain fully conscious during meetings with advisors and other officials.

But that is only the tip of the iceberg. Long before a person exhibits the obvious sign of closing their eyes, the mind has already dulled and begun to wander. So if the president is in a drowsy state where his eyes are intermittently closing, it is certain that his mind is dulled even when his eyes are open.

And that is not good for the country. It is trite to say that only the most difficult and complex national problems reach the president's desk, but it is a useful reminder that the president needs his full mental powers to resolve those problems, no matter how adeptly responsibility might be delegated.

A simpler way to put it is no less accurate: a sleepy president is going to miss a substantial fraction of what his advisors are telling him, and remember less, and that is inimical to good governance.

Possible causes

Even in his first term, Trump showed several sleep-threatening tendencies MORE:

• high risk of having obstructive sleep apnea (due to central obesity and a thick neck);
• inadequate time in bed;
• high level of caffeine intake;

Correcting each of these tendencies is straightforward.

But Trump's intrusive sleepiness in his second term has persisted for many months, suggesting that it is not easily treated. In other words, some poorly-treatable thing not present in his first term is afflicting his sleep in his second term.

Heart failure is a prime candidate.

Trump's heart failure is the less common "HFpEF" type MORE. It is both difficult to treat and a disruptor of sleep.

Heart failure, regardless of type, disrupts sleep in two ways: orthopnea and central sleep apnea.

• Orthopnea is difficulty breathing when lying flat, as in bed. Up to a point, it can be treated by extra pillows on the bed (or sleeping in an easy chair) but once the limit of height and comfort is reached, treatment is difficult.

• Central sleep apnea is a type of sleep apnea that occurs when the brain intermittently fails to trigger breathing. It occurs in 80% of patients with the HFpEF type of heart failure 1. It can cause insomnia, fatigue, and/or daytime sleepiness 2. Central sleep apnea is tough to treat because there is no reliable way to stimulate the brain to breathe. CPAP masks can help some people, but that is not reliable either.

When heart failure causes orthopnea or central sleep apnea, the only real treatment for the sleep problem is to treat the heart failure... but we've already noted that Trump's type of heart failure is difficult to treat.

Sleep apnea occurs in about 90% of patients with advanced cardiac amyloidosis 3.

Patients with cardiac amyloidosis most often have obstructive sleep apnea; many have a mixtures of obstructive and central sleep apnea 3. One interesting phenomenon in amyloidosis patients is that treating the obstructive apneas with a CPAP mask can bring out central apneas. For example, one patient with amyloidosis was having 44 apneas per hour before his obstructive sleep apnea was corrected; afterward he had 86 central sleep apneas per hour 4. Nature can be perverse sometimes.

The upshot of all this: if Trump has heart failure, then it is extremely likely that he is suffering a sleep breathing disorder that could make him sleepy during the day — this despite all efforts of physicians to keep him awake. Ultimately, the treatability of the sleep disorder will depend on the treatability of the heart failure, which is not good news, because there are reasons to think that the treatment of Trump's heart failure has reached its limit MORE.

Political impact

As with the intrusive sleepiness of William Howard Taft 5, the intrusive sleepiness of Donald Trump is vexing his aides.

On Jan. 1, 2026, the Wall Street Journal reported 6:

Trump's staff have also counseled him to try to keep his eyes open during public events, fearing the optics of his appearing to fall asleep, a person familiar with the matter said. Cameras caught him appearing to doze in December at a cabinet meeting and during a November announcement about reducing the cost of weight-loss medication. ...

The president has difficulty sleeping well at night, and by his own account is often texting and calling aides at 2 a.m. or later. Several allies described getting text messages from him after he catches up on their Fox News appearances in the wee hours of the morning.

"I've never been a big sleeper," Trump said.

White House responses

• June 5, 2026 (approx.): Secretary of State Marco Rubio makes full-throated denial of Trump's sleepiness.
  • Video here: https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-explodes-over-viral-video-of-sleepy-donald-trump/
  • It is a torrent of words that sidesteps the essential question.
  • Rubio may also be mixing up cause and effect. He brags that Trump is making phone calls and social media posts at all hours of the night. It is entirely possible that is due to heart failure making it difficult for Trump to sleep, causing him to be awake at those hours.

• May 11, 2026: The "rapid response" social media account at the White House stated that photos of Trump with his eyes closed had caught him during a blink 7.
  • Video here: https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-uses-absurd-new-excuse-for-donald-trump-79-sleeping/
  • The video shows Trump had his eyes closed for something like 5 seconds.
  • A normal blink lasts 0.33 seconds on average 8.
  • During drowsiness, blink durations generally increase 10-40% 9.
  • Clearly, Trump was considerably more than just "drowsy."
  • If any additional evidence is needed, note the profoundly relaxed state of Trump's facial muscles during the supposed blinks (in the still photos or in the video). This markedly diminished muscle tone is far more compatible with drowsiness than with alertness.

• Jan. 28, 2026: During a month of interviews with journalists about his health ( 6 10 11 12 ), Trump was asked by one about his dozing at the Cabinet meeting of Dec. 2, 2025:

  Trump offered a different defense for closing his eyes during the Cabinet meeting. "It's boring as hell," he said. "I'm going around a room, and I've got 28 guys — the last one was three and a half hours. I have to sit back and listen, and I move my hand so that people will know I'm listening. I'm hearing every word, and I can't wait to get out." 12.

  The interview also produced this priceless example of nonsense from the presidential press secretary:

  When the president rests his eyes, Leavitt chimed in, he's actually "actively listening." 12

  Comment: Why do his eyes need rest, unless his entire body needs rest? There is nothing about a Cabinet meeting that demands special eye-work. It is unfortunate that Trump finds a Cabinet meeting boring, since that is an essential part of the business of governing.

• Jan. 1, 2026: Trump denies falling asleep at recent White House events 6.

All in all, these responses are not serious statements.

Comment: Every physician in America has seen over and over again colleagues who spent the previous night entirely awake, and seen these colleagues in lectures and meetings the next day, trying to stay awake. They look exactly like Trump, with all the same muscle moves... the raising of the brows as if that could lift the eyelids, the slow turns of the head to feign attention with eyes closed, the lack of animation in the lower face, the collapse against the back of the seat. The only thing he doesn't do is shift around in his chair by pushing up on his arms. These maneuvers signal a person desperately wanting to surrender to overwhelming drowsiness, but checked by the watching of others.

Examples

• Sep. 28, 2026: Drowsy during Oval Office event.
  • Video here: https://newrepublic.com/post/215938/donald-trump-80-falls-asleep-announcing-steel-plant

• July 28, 2026: Drowsy during funeral.
  • Video here: https://newrepublic.com/post/213641/trump-falls-asleep-lindsey-graham-funeral
  • Video here: https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/internet-erupts-trump-caught-eyes-202153684.html

• June 15, 2026: Drowsy while shaking hands, as judged from protracted closure of eyelids and relaxation of facial muscles.
  • Video here: https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-catches-heat-for-awkward-limp-handshake-with-macron/

• June 9, 2026: Drowsy, likely asleep, watching a Knicks playoff game in New York City.
  • Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFbJf0A-9wE
    At 1:46 he stops talking to the man next to him, and within a second his eyes are closed, his face relaxed, and his head drooping. (Sorry about the garish title screen, but this was the most comprehensive video.)
  • Video here: https://newrepublic.com/post/211540/donald-trump-fall-asleep-knicks-final
  • On X.com: https://x.com/CalltoActivism/status/2064162965100609620

• June 4, 2026: Drowsy during Oval Office event for coal.
  • Video here: https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-explodes-over-viral-video-of-sleepy-donald-trump/

• May 11, 2026: Drowsy during Oval Office event on maternal health.
  • Video here: https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-uses-absurd-new-excuse-for-donald-trump-79-sleeping/ On that page, The Daily Beast calculates Trump's eyes were closed for 17 seconds (at least 5 by my count). The White House claimed Trump was blinking; this explanation is not credible (see Disputed page).

• Apr. 23, 2026: Indisputable drowsiness in the Oval Office as another man talks.
  • Video here: https://newrepublic.com/post/209453/trump-falls-asleep-white-house-health-care-event
  • Video here: https://www.indy100.com/politics/trump/donald-trump-asleep-white-house

• Dec. 2, 2025: At a Cabinet meeting that lasted over two hours: "Trump's eyelids grew heavier and heavier until finally he appeared to nod off multiple times." 12

• Nov. 2025: Drowsy during Oval Office event for weight loss medications.
  • Six different videos: https://www.gettyimages.com/search/2/film?phrase=harnik%20november%202025%20oval%20office
  • Still photos: https://extra.ie/2025/11/09/news/social-media-donald-trump-asleep-meeting
  • This was the event where a man fainted and Trump stood looking forward with a blank look on his face. Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHvW2kvPXuY