“In this environment, people will seize on whatever seems to confirm what they suspected, and that’s obviously not a great situation for getting accurate information,” said Brendan Nyhan, a political science professor at Dartmouth University. “What we’ve seen illustrates the way that everyone is vulnerable to misinformation and online rumors.”
Speculation continued Saturday morning when a photographer took a picture of Trump in a golf shirt, heading out of the White House with a grandchild. Online, people scrutinized the photo for indications that he might not be well.
The next day, Trump posted a photo of himself on Truth Social golfing with former NFL coach Jon Gruden, who resigned from the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021 after having sent offensive emails, although Trump didn’t say when the photo with Gruden was taken. That prompted a fresh round of questions.
A White House aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Trump golfed with Gruden on Sunday.
Trump directly addressed his health Sunday on Truth Social, saying, “NEVER FELT BETTER IN MY LIFE.”
But Monday, rumors swirled anew when images on X and elsewhere appeared to show someone throwing a trash bag out of a second-floor White House window, seemingly at odds with usual protocol. The videos got millions of views.
What happened remains unclear. The White House aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a contractor tossed out the bags during regular maintenance at the White House while Trump was away.
Asked about the images Tuesday, Trump said the windows are sealed, which would contradict that explanation. He said the video was most likely an “AI-generated” fake.
This wasn’t the first time the internet throbbed with commentary about Trump’s health. In September 2020, Trump posted on social media a denial that he had suffered “a series of mini-strokes” — without anyone having suggested that he had. And in October 2020, he was diagnosed with Covid-19 in a scare that gripped the government two months before the rollout of vaccines. He spent three days at Walter Reed.
Inside the White House on Tuesday, aides took note of the most recent buzz surrounding Trump’s health but didn’t seem to believe it amounted to much of anything.
“The made-up speculation online is crazy and baseless, and it’s clearly being pushed by Democrat activists and left-wing lunatics,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “President Trump is perfectly fine and has a tremendous amount of energy. He has been completely transparent about his health with the public, unlike his predecessor, who went weeks without speaking to the media and spent a third of his presidency sleeping on vacation.”
A Biden spokeswoman declined to comment.
The kerfuffle seemed to subside after Trump’s appearance Tuesday, but internet conspiracy theories often prove tough to quash. As evening approached, “#Trumpdead” was once again trending on X.