Here's What Donald Trump May Look Like After His Stressful Presidency

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A side-by-side comparison showing a digitally edited photo of President Donald Trump using the iPhone app AgingBooth. Chris Riotta, Newsweek

Updated | Donald Trump, the oldest president at the time of entering the Oval Office, will leave the White House undeniably having aged from when he was first sworn into office at 71 years old.

The president may move with more of a limp after walking through the stretching halls of the White House for four or eight years. The swing in his hips when playing golf at his luxury properties will likely have diminished. He may feel aches in his wrist from time to time as he signs major legislation and executive orders into law. His infamous golden locks will most likely turn at least somewhat gray, and new wrinkles will mark his eyes, lips and forehead.

Upon leaving office, an older Trump will almost certainly need to work off some added pounds. At least, that's all according to a number of experts on stress and aging who say the responsibilities and loneliness of the office could take a toll on the 45th president—but may not necessarily speed up his maturing process, like some might think.

Trump, who entered office reportedly weighing 236 pounds at 6-feet-3-inches, has an estimated life span of 87.7 years, according to S. Jay Olshansky, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who has studied the effects of the presidency on aging. That's nearly three years more than the average life expectancy for a 71-year-old, college-educated man currently living in the United States.

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A photo of the back of Trump's head at the G7 summit in Sicily May 26, 2017. Reuters

Olshansky tells Newsweek that, despite discredited studies and tabloid reports suggesting presidents age two times as fast as the normal person, the opposite may actually be true when looking at the data.

"Because [Trump] is 71, his risk of death is significantly higher than if he was in office at 61 or 51, there's no question," he says. "His risk of death today is double what it would have been had he entered at 64."

But despite his new role as the leader of the free world, "he's not going to age faster than most men his age," Olshansky says. "All of our presidents so far have been men, almost all of them wealthy, almost all of them highly educated. When looking at that subgroup it's clear they tend to live longer than most.

"In all likelihood, presidents typically thrive on the stress associated with aging. That stress doesn't have the same effect on many of them as it does the rest of us."

Not to mention, "Having access to that level of health care is a Trump card, a very powerful predictor" of longevity, Olshansky explains.

"It's undeniable that living a life of highly stressful situations and emotional challenges, and the isolation of being the decider-in-chief, can be taxing," Richard Browdie, president of the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging, a non-profit advocacy organization for older adults and caregivers tells Newsweek. "But if [Trump] cares about this country, if he cares about the work he's doing, that's going to have a tremendous impact in reducing the stress involved.

"Trump might just live off the stress of it all."

Still, even he and Olshansky admit the president will look far different than how he did on Inauguration Day.

"It's really hard to know, but he's going to look older," Olshansky says. "He'll have to lose some weight if he's going to last eight years. He will probably move more slowly, more measure-based. That doesn't mean he won't be able to walk up the stairs of Air Force One, however."

Past presidents have long joked about the aging process under the microscope of the presidency. "The first thing I want from young people is to stop calling me old," Obama said in 2015. "When I came into office, I had no gray hair, and now I have a lot. I don't dye my hair, and a lot of my fellow leaders do. I won't say who, but their barbers know, their hairdressers."

After years of observing a commander-in-chief on a near-daily basis, it's impossible not to notice their aging process; even if it isn't any more rapid than the typical, middle-aged American.

Thanks to the advancement of digital photo editing technology, Americans can now have an educated guess as to what Trump may look like after serving as the nation's president and having aged in front of their eyes. Side-by-side photos from the popular iPhone app AgingBooth show the expected progression of Trump's suspected maturity from just before becoming president until long after he's left the Oval Office.

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A side-by-side comparison of a photo taken of President Donald Trump near the start of his presidency, digitally altered using the iPhone app AgingBooth. Chris Riotta, Newsweek
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A side-by-side comparison of a photo taken of President Donald Trump near the start of his presidency, digitally altered using the iPhone app AgingBooth. Chris Riotta, Newsweek
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A side-by-side comparison of a photo taken of President Donald Trump near the start of his presidency, digitally altered using the iPhone app AgingBooth. Chris Riotta, Newsweek

When comparing those side-by-side photos of Trump with other altered images of recent presidents from before the start of their tenures in the White House using AgingBooth, it seems clear some of the most obvious traits will become apparent in Trump after his time in office: deeper wrinkles on his forehead, graying hair and pudgier, more drooping cheeks and neck.

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A side-by-side comparison of a photo taken of President Barack Obama near the start of his presidency, digitally altered using the iPhone app AgingBooth. Chris Riotta, Newsweek
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A side-by-side comparison of a photo taken of President Georgw W. Bush near the start of his presidency, digitally altered using the iPhone app AgingBooth. Chris Riotta, Newsweek
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A side-by-side comparison of a photo taken of President Bill Clinton near the start of his presidency, digitally altered using the iPhone app AgingBooth. Chris Riotta, Newsweek

Still, it's impossible to know how exactly Trump will age throughout his presidency. Besides stress and emotional challenges, there's a wide range of other factors contributing to one's health and life expectancy, with new findings being made virtually each day across the scientific community.

But two factors alone may ultimately determine just how quickly the president matures while seated at the Resolute Desk, Browdie says: Trump's anger and loneliness.

"As president, you are constantly surrounded by people, and you're absolutely alone at the same time. Loneliness is not necessarily a social thing," he says. "Anger is also a health factor. [Trump] does strike me as being angry a lot, which is a powerful factor in aging.

"Trump may be in a situation that makes him angrier than he's ever been. That's not good for the body."

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Donald Trump is the oldest person to enter the White House to serve a first term.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

About the writer


Chris Riotta is a reporter from New York and is a Master's candidate in Journalism at Columbia University. He has ... Read more

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