It took only a few minutes of footage to reignite the debate. During a 9/11 commemoration in September, cameras caught what appeared to be a pronounced droop on the right side of Trump’s face.
Trump’s frequent dozing and tendency to veer off topic into sometimes bizarre tangents have long fuelled his critics.
Within the Republican Party, and ahead of midterms that could hand the Democrats a landslide victory, the subject remains taboo.
The White House has sometimes offered rather unexpected explanations. Bruises seen on his hands during a February meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron were attributed to the fact that he is “constantly working and shaking hands all day, every day”, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
“No one around him has an interest in raising the issue,” Richomme says. “Silence is safer.”
“The danger isn’t only decline,” Perry warns. “It’s decline combined with secrecy, loyalists and the absence of independent advisers.”