“In this environment, people will take what seems to confirm what they suspect, and obviously that is not a great situation to obtain precise information,” said Brendan Nyhan, a professor of political science at the University of Dartmouth. “What we have seen illustrates the way they are all vulnerable to erroneous information and online rumors.”
The speculation continued on Saturday morning when a photographer took a photo of Trump with a golf shirt, leaving the White House with a grandson. Online, people examined the photo by indications that it might not be well.
The next day, Trump published a photo of himself in Truth Social Golf with former NFL coach Jon Gruden, who renounced the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021 after having sent offensive emails, although Trump did not say when he took the photo with Gruden. That caused a new round of questions.
A White House assistant, who spoke on anonymity condition, confirmed that Trump played with Gruden on Sunday.
Trump directly addressed his health on Sunday in Truth Social, saying: “I never felt better in my life.”
But on Monday, the rumors swirled again when the images in X and other places seemed to show someone throwing a garbage bag from a second floor window, apparently disagree with the usual protocol. The videos obtained millions of views.
What happened is still clear. The White House assistant, speaking under anonymity, said a contractor threw the bags during regular maintenance in the White House while Trump was out.
When asked about the images on Tuesday, Trump said the windows are sealed, which would contradict that explanation. He said that the video was probably a false “generated by AI.”
This was not the first time that the Internet throbbed with comments on Trump’s health. In September 2020, Trump published on social networks a denial that he had suffered “a series of cerebrovascular accidents”, without anyone having suggested that he had done so. And in October 2020, Covid-19 was diagnosed in a scare that grabbed the government two months before the launch of vaccines. He spent three days at Walter Reed.
Within the White House on Tuesday, attendees took note of the most recent rumor that surrounded Trump’s health, but did not seem to believe that it was very equivalent.
“The invented online speculation is crazy and without foundation, and is clearly being pushed by left and lunatic activists of the left,” said White House Secretary Karoline Leavitt. “President Trump is perfectly well and has a lot of energy. He has been completely transparent about his health with the public, unlike his predecessor, which was weeks without talking to the media and spent a third of his presidency sleeping on vacation.”
A drum spokeswoman declined to comment.
Kerfuffle seemed to decrease after Trump’s appearance on Tuesday, but Internet conspiracy theories are often difficult to cancel. As the night approached, “#Trumpdead” was rendering again in X.
