Presidents have long established standards of vigor and healthful living with their individual passions—Ford skied, Reagan rode horses, Carter liked to work on his farm—but Trump has managed to dispense with this unspoken obligation of the presidency as easily as he has every other White House norm. Indeed, Trump has broken with the tradition of displaying athleticism as a signal to the public that all was well with the world’s most important political body. George W. Bush loved being photographed clearing brush on his ranch. Gerald Ford had no compunction about being shown disrobing for a swim while the press corps ringed the pool. Heck, Richard Nixon was photographed bowling. But Trump won’t even admit that he is actually golfing, much less permit an image to be taken.

“Here’s a guy who is constantly appraising other people and using that as a measure of social worth, but not taking care of himself,” Trump biographer Tim O’Brien told me. “That’s a revealing thing; there’s a little bit of self-loathing here.” Added O’Donnell: “You see the side-by-side pictures of presidents from the beginning of their terms to the end. They age, their hair turns gray. Think of what he’s going to look like.”