Dr. Harold Bornstein rose to prominence late in 2015 as The Trump Doctor, the invisible man who seemed to effortlessly channel—perhaps literally—the voice of Donald J. Trump when he assessed the then-candidate's health in a legendary public letter:
Things only ramped up once the photos began to surface.
He's mostly kept a low profile since—one remarkable interview notwithstanding—until today, when he popped up in The New York Times to offer some insight into the president's health. One particular issue was Trump's low PSA level:
The low number led urologists not connected with Mr. Trump to say that he must have been treated for an enlarged prostate or prostate cancer. But Dr. Bornstein said in the interviews that Mr. Trump had had neither ailment and that his PSA level is low because of Propecia.
Bornstein explained that the president takes finasteride, which lowers PSA levels and is "marketed as Propecia to treat male-pattern baldness."
Dr. Bornstein said he also took finasteride and credited it for helping maintain his own shoulder-length hair and Mr. Trump's hair. "He has all his hair," Dr. Bornstein said. "I have all my hair."
Trump also takes an antibiotic to control a common skin condition, and a statin for elevated blood cholesterol and lipids. Otherwise, Bornstein maintained the president is in good health, and, when asked about Trump's recent claim that he's a "germaphobe," said it was something that had never really come up.
It seems Bornstein hasn't always been thrilled with his new life of fame, however:
At times in the interviews, Dr. Bornstein was moody, ranging from saying that Mr. Trump's health "is none of your business" to later volunteering facts...He said he liked the attention he got from friends now that he was publicly known as Mr. Trump's doctor but disliked "the fun made of me" by the news media and strangers who have thrown objects at his office window and who have yelled at him on Park Avenue.
This, despite the prior revelation that Bornstein's business cards read, "dottore molto famoso"—"very famous doctor" in Italian—below his name. It all seemed to culminate in a borderline disastrous experience at his former patient's inauguration. His tale, we are told reliably, is not the George Costanza B-plot of a Seinfeld episode:
Dr. Bornstein was invited to Mr. Trump's inaugural, although he said it was not as pleasant an experience as he expected. He had to walk a long way to a spot where he thought there would be a chair — he said he has a painful back ailment and nerve damage to a leg — but when he got there, there was no chair.
He stood behind a tree and "never heard anyone speak because I was so uncomfortable from my back and being cold." He felt, he said, "absolutely miserable." It seemed to take forever to leave because of the heavy security, he said. The situation was the same at an inaugural ball where there were no tables and chairs. So, he said, unable to chat comfortably with others, he and his wife, Melissa, returned to their hotel early.
All in all, the interview went pretty well for Bornstein. At least he didn't muse about how Ronald Reagan had dementia in office and how "if something happens to [Trump], then it happens to him. It's like all the rest of us, no? That's why we have a vice president and a speaker of the House and a whole line of people. They can just keep dying." That was just the last time. We could read one of these every day.
