Having emphatically failed in its duty to cover the deteriorating health of Joe Biden during the end of his presidency, America's media is now in a bind over reporting the ailments of Donald Trump.

Trump's right fist, which he memorably held aloft in the "fight, fight, fight" pose, which signalled his vitality even in the face of attempted assassination last year, is today marked by unsightly and extensive bruising, a sign of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which he attempts to hide from the cameras using concealer.

At campaign rallies, Trump loved to publicly mimic Biden's stumbling gait to get laughs from his supporters. Now he suffers from severe swelling in his own lower legs, a condition called chronic veinous insufficiency. At 79, he is the oldest president to be inaugurated and when he briefly and unusually disappeared from public view over the recent Labour Day weekend, false rumours of his demise caught fire on social media, where #trumpdead became a trending topic.

Serious news outlets were not part of this frenzy of wishful thinking among Trump's enemies. Yet when asked about the rumours, Trump attacked the whole sector. "It's fake news, it's so fake," he said. "That's why the media has so little credibility."

But media questioning obliged the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt to reveal details of Trump's bruising and swelling last month. If his health problems become a news story, Trump can hardly claim an invasion of privacy.

He described the lack of transparency over President Biden's condition as the "biggest scandal maybe in the last hundred years in this country". In June, he ordered an investigation into President Biden's use of an autopen to sign executive orders, suggesting aides might have faked the signature. In a White House "Presidential wall of fame", Trump plans to represent President Biden, who is battling cancer, with a "picture of the autopen".

The problem for American media is that, such was its negligence in detailing President Biden's decline, that any stories suggesting Trump's condition is impinging on his ability to do the job will be met with accusations of bias (as Democrats dismissed a rare critique of President Biden's health by the Wall Street Journal last year).

President Biden's maladies only rose to the top of the news agenda after his incoherent rambling during the first presidential debate in June 2024. A month later, he withdrew his presidential candidacy.

But the American public had foreseen such a turn of events, even if journalists had largely turned a blind eye to President Biden's problems. Ten months before the debate, three-quarters of American adults told pollsters that the 81-year-old president was "too old" to serve another term. "A lot of Americans believed that the President was in really bad shape and the media kind of waved that off," said Ben Smith, former media writer for The New York Times. "We should have all gone after it harder."

A book, Original Sin, co-written by Jake Tapper, a CNN anchor and moderator of that fateful debate, blames President Biden's aides for a "cover-up" over the president's health. But the media failed to hold to account a leader who gave far fewer news conferences than his predecessors and bluntly declined interviews with prestigious outlets.

Team Biden was not the first administration to keep secrets. Before television existed, the American public was unaware that Franklin D Roosevelt, the 32nd President, used a wheelchair or that President Woodrow Wilson had a stroke in the White House.

Few knew that Winston Churchill had a stroke when Prime Minister in 1953. When Boris Johnson went into hospital in 2020, Downing Street was less than transparent over the seriousness of his condition, albeit amidst a global crisis.

Trump's success is tied to his media profile and he will not hide. He is constantly on his Truth Social platform, where he recently declared: "NEVER FELT BETTER IN MY LIFE".

He will visit the UK this month. He does regular interviews - at least with friends such as podcaster Joe Rogan and Fox News host Sean Hannity. If he stumbles, the watching public will call it out.