President Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that he was unaware of social media rumors speculating about his supposed death or rapidly declining health that went viral over Labor Day weekend.
The rumors were, as most pieces of unfounded viral gossip are, sparked by a collection of likely coincidental tidbits that were later strung together, fed into, and expanded by online interest. The president took a multi-day break from public appearances following last week’s hours-long Cabinet meeting, where his top officials provided the extreme flattery that Trump craves.
For several months now, Trump has had persistent bruising on the back of his hand, to the point that the White House at first attempted to blame it on an excess of handshakes, and before later trying to cover the discolored skin with poorly matched foundation. This, combined with a period of relative public silence from Trump, as well as revelations from earlier this year that the 79-year-old president was suffering from poor circulation, helped create a feverish cycle of social media users wondering if Trump was dead.
On Tuesday, Trump held an event to announce that he would be moving the headquarters of the U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama. During the press conference following the announcement, he was asked by reporters if he had been made aware that large swaths of the internet thought he had died over the weekend.
“No… I didn’t see that,” Trump told Fox News’ Peter Doocy. “Last week, I did numerous news conferences, all successful. They went very well — like, this is going very well — and then I didn’t do any for two days and they said there must be something wrong with him. [Joe] Biden wouldn’t do them for months.”
“I didn’t hear that one. That’s pretty serious stuff. Well, it’s fake news,” he added.
Would it shock you to hear that the president wasn’t telling the truth?
According to an administration official and another source briefed on the matter, Trump was absolutely aware of the online rumors that he was dead or dying, with the second source saying: “He fucking sees everything.” The administration official adds that the president is “the healthiest I’ve ever seen him,” and that any attempt to portray him as frail or declining is “fake news” and “malicious.” Asked if the official was told to say that by Team Trump brass, and if everyone at the White House is just trying to make Trump seem big and strong, the Trump official simply hung up on Rolling Stone.
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As for Trump, this is merely the most recent time he’s publicly lied to the cameras about being aware of viral memes or news online. Maybe his most famous instance of that came shortly after Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in late 2020. Then-President Trump was asked about it by a journalist after getting off Air Force One, and he said that was the first time he was hearing about her passing. According to multiple people with direct knowledge of the matter, he was fully briefed by senior staff about her death — and the highly consequential opening of another SCOTUS seat — while he was on the plane.
Trump insisted on Tuesday that he was “very active over the weekend.” That’s not true either — but he is, indeed, alive.