Despite Legacy Media Shade, Presidential Fitness Test Will Return to Schools

On July 31, after President Trump signed an executive order reestablishing the presidential Fitness Test in public schools and the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, some in the legacy media rolled out the shade: they mocked the president and HHS Secretary Kennedy, who President Trump has taped to lead the initiative.

The Presidential Fitness Test, launched in 1956 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, grew popular under John F. Kennedy. It was discontinued in 2012, during President Obama’s second term.

President Trump empowered HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the government’s new commitment to health, scheduled to launch in early 2026. That, too, spiked media criticism, with MSNBC and The Daily Beast leading the charge.

The Daily Beast, a publication desperately seeking relevance, mocked Trump in two separate articles, one entitled, “Trump, 79, Orders Everyone But Him to Get Fit Again.” Its subtitle reads, “He’s been diagnosed with swollen ankles, enjoys feasting on McDonald’s and Diet Coke, and will soon be the oldest president to occupy the White House.” Both title and subtitle make no sense: President Trump’s executive order mandates a fitness test for public school students, not adults.

In a second Daily Beast snarky editorial, Jill Twiss writes, “Look, I don’t know if a fitness test is a good idea for kids or if there’s a non-mortifying way to do it. But it’s hard to ignore the inherent irony of modeling one after a president so known for his love of fast food that Saudi Arabia provided him with his own mobile McDonalds on a recent visit. A man who can be taken out at any point by a devastating handshake injury.” She proceeds to malign Kennedy’s preference for raw milk and the fact that he has worked out wearing jeans.

Over at MSNBC, our dear friends invited their sweet columnist, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, to offer more of the same snark. “Trump is reviving an outdated and problematic practice for American schoolkids: the president used to trash exercise and wellness culture,” Petrzela writes. “Now he’s rebooting the outdated Presidential Fitness Test as a public school requirement.”

For his part, Secretary Kennedy praised Trump’s decision.

“In December of 1960, a month after he won the election, my uncle wrote an article for Sports Illustrated,” the Secretary said last week. “He was lamenting the fact that America had prided itself on its beef jerky toughness and that we were losing that. We were falling behind Europeans, we were falling behind other nations. He was signaling with that article that he was going to make physical fitness of our kids the centerpiece of his administration. I'm so grateful to President Trump for bringing back this tradition.”

JFK was a passionate advocate for the American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation (AAHPER) Youth Fitness Test. This test was later repurposed as the President’s Challenge Physical Fitness Test—commonly referred to as the Presidential Fitness Test.

The test featured a one-mile run, situps, pushups or pull-ups, and sit-and- reach flexibility testing. During the early 1960s, it was a centerpiece of K-12 physical education programs.

Now, it’s coming back. Shouldn’t Democrats and Republicans alike see the good in this?

The president's executive order references many concerns shared by President Kennedy in the 60s. President Trump’s order reads, in part:

“As the United States prepares to celebrate its semiquincentennial anniversary in 2026, we must address the threat to the vitality and longevity of our country that is posed by America’s declining health and physical fitness. For far too long, the physical and mental health of the American people has been neglected. Rates of obesity, chronic disease, inactivity, and poor nutrition are at crisis levels, particularly among our children. These trends weaken our economy, military readiness, academic performance, and national morale.”

President Trump also said physical fitness is linked to national security. In his Sports Illustrated article, President Kennedy makes a similar point.

“Throughout our history we have been challenged to armed conflict by nations which sought to destroy our independence or threatened our freedom. The young men of America have risen to those occasions, giving themselves freely to the rigors and hardships of warfare. But the stamina and strength which the defense of liberty requires are not the product of a few weeks' basic training or a month's conditioning. These only come from bodies which have been conditioned by a lifetime of participation in sports and interest in physical activity. Our struggles against aggressors throughout our history have been won on the playgrounds and corner lots and fields of America.

Thus, in a very real and immediate sense, our growing softness, our increasing lack of physical fitness, is a menace to our security.”

President Kennedy further cautioned, “However, we do not, like the ancient Spartans, wish to train the bodies of our youths merely to make them more effective warriors. It is our profound hope and expectation that Americans will never again have to expend their strength in armed conflict.”

Since ‘sleepy Joe’s’ fatal debate flub last year, the Democratic Party hasn’t found a sturdy leg to stand on. Maybe that explains why the democrat-leaning media is throwing shade at what ought to be a bipartisan initiative.

It’s a pity we’ve reached a point in the American experiment when no matter how positive the initiatives President Trump or Secretary Kennedy offer our nation, the Democratic choir is quick to find fault with them.

Takeaways:

1. President Trump signs an executive order bringing the Presidential Fitness Test back to schools.

2. Even though the test was promoted by President Kennedy during the early 60s, many in the Democratic-leaning media stand against it.