There's Only One Choice If You Actually Care About the Candidates' Health

One of the favorite pastimes among partisan Republican trolls recently is to speculate on Hillary Clinton's health due to periodic coughing fits Clinton seems to have. To be fair, Clinton is a 68-year-old woman, and it's certainly reasonable to speculate that a person of her age might have some health issues. On the other hand, it's also reasonable to expect a person of any age that is keeping the schedule that Clinton has been keeping to have caught a bug of some form while constantly traveling around the country, getting very little sleep, and maintaining a large amount of stress.

Leaving that aside, however, the candidate these people support is a 70-year-old, overweight fast food addict who is almost certainly suffering from heart disease. If I was a betting man I'd say that the man whose belly precedes him into any room he happens to walk is far more likely to drop dead before the person with a simple cough.

The fact that Trump's doctor is a complete buffoon should also arouse suspicion. He writes, "If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency." That's the type of statement that makes you wonder whether his medical license came out of a crackerjack box.

Unlike Clinton or Trump, however, the Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson seems to be the picture of health, which is not to mention his being 6-7 years younger than either the Democratic or Republican nominees. He's a triathlete who's competed in many races, marathons, bike events, and has even competed in the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. He's climbed the "Seven Summits," including Mount Everest with a recently broken leg. Unlike his opponents, Johnson is an athlete.

Of course, speculating about any candidate's health is probably a fool's errand, but it's clear that by any rational measure Gary Johnson is healthier than either of the major party candidates. The people attacking Clinton over her health, however, aren't trying to make a rational argument; they want to build up Trump by tearing down Clinton, so the fact that Trump is visibly unhealthy makes no difference to them.

There are plenty of reasons to dislike Hillary Clinton, but her coughing isn't one of them. If that is an issue for someone, however, then supporting Donald Trump would have to be out of the question. If you sincerely believe that the health of the candidates is an issue then the only logical choice in November is to vote for Gary Johnson.