Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has challenged President Donald Trump to release his recent MRI results after the president used an ableist slur against him during a late-night online tirade about immigration.
In a Truth Social post, Trump referred to Walz as “seriously retarded,” a term widely condemned as offensive to people with intellectual disabilities. Walz fired back by demanding transparency about the president’s medical scans, reviving concerns about the 79-year-old president’s health.
Why It Matters
Trump’s health has come under sharper focus in recent months following his diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency, a condition commonly seen in older adults. He also confirmed that he underwent an MRI at Walter Reed in October as part of what the White House described as a routine physical.
Trump told reporters he had “no idea what they analyzed,” even as the administration framed the imaging as standard medical care for a sitting president.
What To Know
Walz responded on X, posting a screenshot of Trump’s lengthy Truth Social message and writing: “Release the MRI results.” In that post, Trump railed against immigration policy, attacked Walz and Somali-American Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar, and repeated unsupported claims about Somali immigrants in Minnesota.
Trump alleged that “hundreds of thousands” of Somali refugees were “taking over” Minnesota and suggested that Somali gangs were “roving the streets.”
Somali Americans account for about 1.1 percent of Minnesota’s population—roughly 61,300 people, according to U.S. Census data. Crime patterns in the state are driven by a range of social and economic factors, and there is no credible evidence that Somali gangs are behind widespread violence.
The president has repeatedly singled out Somali communities in recent remarks. Earlier on Thursday, while discussing the shooting of two National Guard members by an Afghan national, Trump pivoted to Somalis, saying “Somalians have caused a lot of trouble” and were “ripping us off for a lot of money,” even after acknowledging the incident had “nothing” to do with them.
Last week, he announced that he would end temporary protected status (TPS) for Somalis in Minnesota “effective immediately,” a move that could upend the lives of many long-settled residents.
Trump’s MRI and Health Questions
Trump told reporters on November 14 that his MRI was part of a “standard” physical and that the results were “outstanding.”
The White House has described the test as advanced imaging but has declined to specify which part of his body was examined or what prompted the scan. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has said only that the president “remains in exceptional physical health.”
MRIs are non-invasive scans that produce detailed images of organs, tissues, and the skeletal system. They are frequently used to evaluate brain and spinal cord health, check for aneurysms, detect conditions of the eye and inner ear, identify multiple sclerosis, assess spinal cord problems, stroke, tumors, and brain injuries, and examine the heart and other major organs.
It remains unclear which area of Trump’s body was imaged in October, and the White House has not disclosed the specific reason for ordering the test. The MRI was his second publicized health evaluation this year, following July’s disclosure of chronic venous insufficiency.
Do Trump and Walz Have History?
The clash is the latest in a series of personal and political confrontations between the Republican president and the Democratic governor, who previously ran on the Harris–Walz ticket that Trump defeated last year.
In his State of the State address in April, Walz labeled Trump “weak” and “petty,” criticizing the president’s early actions in his new term: “It’s not supposed to be one old man sitting in the Oval Office sending out middle-of-the-night tweets that shock markets into freefall.”
A month later, speaking to the South Carolina Democratic Party, Walz urged Democrats to toughen their stance: “When it’s a bully like Donald Trump, you bully the s*** out of him.”
Their feud escalated further after the assassination of Minnesota state Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband. Trump said he would not call “whacked out” Walz, dismissing the idea as a “waste of time,” and shortly beforehand had labeled the governor “grossly incompetent.”
On November 21, Trump referred to him as “Governor Waltz” in a Truth Social post. Whether the misspelling was deliberate is unclear, but the president has a long history of intentionally altering the names of political rivals. During a press conference on Thursday, he again derided Walz, calling him “a dope governor.”
What People Are Saying
On November 14, defending his decision to undergo an MRI, Trump told reporters: “Getting an MRI is very standard. What, you think I shouldn’t have it? Other people get it … I had an MRI. The doctor said it was the best result he has ever seen as a doctor.”
Walz and other critics argue that if the results are as exceptional as Trump claims, releasing them should be straightforward.
What Happens Next
Given Trump’s age and his position as the oldest person ever elected president, his health will likely remain a focal point of public debate throughout his second term.
Walz’s demand for the MRI records adds a new point of pressure on the White House to provide more detailed medical disclosures, even as the political and personal feud between the two men continues to intensify.
