Wild rumours about the health of United States President, Donald Trump, dominated online platforms last week, with some users even claiming the 79-year-old leader had died.
From manipulated photos to out-of-context images, the falsehoods trended widely, generating over 104,000 mentions of the hashtag #TrumpDead on 𝕏 (formerly Twitter), reaching more than 35 million views, according to misinformation watchdog, NewsGuard.
Addressing reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump dismissed the speculation, insisting he was in good health.
“Fake news,” he said when asked about the rumours, before adding on his Truth Social page over the weekend, “NEVER FELT BETTER IN MY LIFE.”
His remarks followed a week in which his absence from public events fuelled speculation of illness.
Social media users pointed to supposed road closures near Maryland’s Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre as “evidence” that Trump was hospitalised. Still, there were no credible reports of such blockages.
Others shared an image of an ambulance outside the White House, wrongly linking it to Trump’s health. Fact-checkers revealed it was an old photo taken in April 2023, during Joe Biden’s presidency.
Another widely circulated claim involved the White House flag flying at half-staff, cited as proof of Trump’s death. In reality, Trump himself had ordered flags lowered in honour of victims of a Minneapolis school shooting.
An AI-enhanced image of Trump’s face, claiming to show signs of a stroke, also turned out to be doctored. NewsGuard confirmed the original photo was simply out of focus.
Even after Trump’s press conference, the misinformation persisted. One Bluesky account falsely declared, “White House just announced the president was dead.”
The falsehoods, traced mainly to liberal anti-Trump accounts across 𝕏, Bluesky, and Instagram, underscore how distrust of institutions has deepened the spread of political misinformation.
The health of American presidents has always attracted scrutiny. But with Trump, the oldest man ever elected US president, now in office after defeating Joe Biden, the issue has grown more intense.
Trump has repeatedly accused Democrats of covering up Biden’s alleged health decline. Biden, who was 82 when he left office in January, ended his 2024 re-election bid after a poor debate performance against Trump.
© 2025 Naijaonpoint, a division of NOP Media Inc. Contact us via [email protected]