Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, I have noticed a steady stream of rhetoric trying to make the health and fitness partisan partisan.
Trump announces return to presidential fitness test
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to resume the school’s presidential fitness exams, and has been joined by several professional athletes from the White House.
Unbranded – News Value
It's the heart of summer, and the days are long and toast. The beach on the coast (or Lake Michigan, closer to where I live), and there is very little clothing.
Some people look good and show extra skin. Most of them don't.
The reality is that over 70% of Americans are overweight or obese, a trend that has been moving in the wrong direction, leading to many preventable health problems and their associated costs.
This is worrying, and the efforts to combat obesity should all be agreed upon.
Sadly, no.
Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, I have noticed a steady stream of rhetoric trying to make the health and fitness partisan partisan.
If you are suitable and enjoy working out (even sports tan), there is a progressive person who will suspect you are Maga.
This is an extreme example of the “if-trump-is for-in-tor-it-us-us-beagainser-against-it” mentality that infects the left.
It's strange to borrow a sentence from former Democratic vice presidential contender Tim Walz.
Trump wants children to be healthier. Why is this negative?
Trump signed an executive order on July 31 to re-establish presidential fitness tests for students in public schools in the United States, thus making health a focus. The test has been around for decades until the 2012-13 school year, when President Barack Obama replaced it.
“We must deal with the threats posed by the health and physical health of the United States to the vitality and lifespan of our nation. For too long, the physical and mental health of the American people has been ignored.”
The rise of obesity and the decline in health are particularly frustrating when children in the country.
According to a 2024 CDC report, about 20% of children are obese (one in five of them are obese). This was a sharp increase in childhood obesity rates in the 1970s.
As Trump acknowledged in his execution order, it is not only a national health issue, but national security.
The CDC report found that only one in five young people are weight-qualified and active enough to serve in the military.
“The military is increasingly difficult to recruit soldiers due to the physical inactivity, obesity and malnutrition of young people in our country,” retired Army Lieutenant Mark Hertling said in the report.
However, Trump encountered a shocking Trump approach to fitness improvement among media progressives.
“Trump is restoring outdated effects for American alumni.”
“When President Trump announced that he was resuming his annual assessment, generations of Americans worked hard to complete the pull-up in front of his classmates,” the New York Times said.
Doing Pilates won't make you a dictator. No tan, either.
Leftists also have ideas about adult fitness and their perception of conservatism.
Earlier this year, fitness influencer Marybeth Monaco-Vavrik released a video that spreads, linking “Pilates with the popularity of running rather than strength training…and the rise of extreme American authoritarianism.” She also equates conservatism with “small bodies.”
On the other hand, men must avoid the pitfalls of looking too masculinity and the “horse circle” that liberals tell us to thrive under Trump’s leadership. For example, actor Sacha Baron Cohen appeared on the cover of August's Men's Fitness Uk, which sparked criticism of his newly chiseled body.
One headline said his physique “is deported to most women.”
(It must be because I'm a conservative woman, but I found Baron Cohen's new look was the opposite of the repellent.)
Opinion Alerts: Get columns on the best questions from your favorite columnist + expert analysis and pass them directly to your device through the USA Today app. No application? Free download from your app store.
In 2024, the Guardian columnist warned: “There is a dark side to health, and I always think it’s political: Become healthy and make you more right.”
And now, enjoying the sun and getting a tan can mark you as a Maga fanatic. After all, Trump and his Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
As the Atlantic has recently observed: “The tan is back. Only this time, it's not just looking good – it's about embracing the whole ideology.”
I bet most people who are suitable and spend time outdoors do this because they know it is good for their health and just enjoy it. It has nothing to do with Trump or how they vote.
Progressives who are trying to demon fitness to “come back” Trump are hurting themselves – and the next generation of Americans.
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist for USA Today. Contact her via ijacques@usatoday.com or x: @Ingrid_jacques