Donald Trump’s mental fitness has been questioned many times throughout his political career, but after the recent bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites, the speculation has taken a far darker turn. Over the weekend, Trump’s decision to green-light strikes on Iran reignited concerns about whether the President is truly fit to be making such globally consequential calls.
And one of his loudest critics isn’t holding back.
Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville launched a fiery, profanity-laced theory on his “Politics War Room” podcast, suggesting that the President may be suffering from an undiagnosed illness, syphilis, and claimed it could be directly impacting his cognitive capacity.
“He may have the clap!” James Carville thinks Trump’s diminishing mental capacity is attributable to a venereal disease. pic.twitter.com/w8IukCbvYk
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) June 21, 2025
Carville didn’t mince words. “It’s obvious that he’s had, like all people, older people, me included, he’s had some diminished capacity. Fortunately, I’m unable to start a war. Unfortunately, he is, which makes a lot of difference,” he said.
The Thursday episode, which aired just ahead of Saturday’s airstrikes, began with Carville calling attention to visible red splotches on Donald Trump’s hands that were first noticed in January 2024. According to him, these markings “could be a professional sign of syphilis, a venereal disease, a tertiary syphilis.”
And he didn’t stop there. Carville added that no amount of orange foundation or makeup could conceal what he believes are signs of serious neurological decline. “He can put makeup on his face. He can’t cover up the slurred language, the stupidity, the ravenous effects this has on a person’s body, on their mind, on everything else.”
It’s not the first time Carville has gone after Donald Trump’s mental faculties, but this time, the stakes feel higher, as the President’s finger hovers over real-world consequences. “What’s happening right now is a guy is starting to talk about hauling off and starting to war and who very well, reasonably … could have a really diseased mental capacity, above and beyond just the normal effects of aging and what comes with that,” he warned.
Critics across social media echoed James Carville’s concern, especially as news spread about Trump reportedly acting without fully informing Vice President JD Vance before the strikes. But Carville took aim not only at Trump, but also at the political media for staying silent on what he believes is a very real crisis.
“We’re not being served by sitting here silently and you’re not being served by a commentariat that basically has one thumb up his a– and one thumb in its mouth and is switching every f——30 seconds. Go do your job,” he thundered.
Iran had warned Trump that it would launch sleeper-cell terrorist attacks on U.S. soil if he ordered a strike on the country’s nuclear facilities, according to NBC News. pic.twitter.com/jxpJMHbztO
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) June 23, 2025
He then ended with a call to action: “Find out what’s going on with his hand. Find out what’s going on with his capacity. Have people look at his slurred language. Have people look at the deterioration that’s going on right now and the madness and the corruption and all of the other s— that’s going on … Look at what’s right in front of you.”
Though syphilis rumors about Donald Trump had circulated in internet corners over a year ago, they had all but vanished, until now. After James Carville’s full-throttle commentary, those whispers are back in the spotlight.
