The rumors started innocently enough, as they often do online: a few days without a public appearance from President Donald Trump, a handful of cryptic social media posts, and suddenly, the internet was ablaze with speculation that the 79-year-old commander-in-chief had died or was gravely ill. Over the Labor Day weekend, the hashtag #Trumpdead shot to the top of trending lists on X (formerly Twitter), and Google searches for phrases like “Is Trump dead?” and “Trump dead” soared to eight times their usual volume, according to Google’s own data.
By Tuesday, September 2, 2025, the fever pitch of rumor and conspiracy had reached such a level that Trump himself appeared on television from the Oval Office to put the speculation to rest. As reported by NBC News, Trump used the opportunity not just to prove he was alive and well, but to take a few jabs at his favorite targets: California Governor Gavin “Newscum,” the “fake news,” mail-in voting, and crime in Democratic-run cities. He even found time to mention the University of Alabama football team’s recent loss to Florida State. When a reporter asked him if he’d heard about his supposed demise, Trump replied, “I knew they were saying: ‘Is he OK? How is he feeling? What’s wrong?’ I was very active this Labor Day,” referencing golf outings at his Virginia club and a flurry of posts on his social media platform.
Trump’s absence from the public eye wasn’t especially long—he hadn’t been seen from Tuesday afternoon until Saturday morning, following a marathon three-hour Cabinet meeting, the longest of his term. But in today’s hyper-connected world, even a short disappearance is enough to set off alarm bells, especially for a president who is usually so omnipresent. “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,” Brendan Nyhan, a political science professor at Dartmouth University, told NBC News. “What we’ve seen illustrates the way that everyone is vulnerable to misinformation and online rumors.”
Adding fuel to the fire was a persistent bruise on the back of Trump’s right hand, noticed since February. The White House explained it as the result of frequent handshakes and his doctor confirmed in July that it was a side effect of aspirin, part of a cardiovascular prevention regimen. Yet, online sleuths pored over every photo, speculating about makeup covering the bruise and what it might mean for the president’s health.
Late-night host Stephen Colbert couldn’t resist weighing in on the drama. Returning from vacation, Colbert devoted much of his September 2 monologue to lampooning the rumors and the White House’s attempts to dispel them. “I was shocked to learn that this weekend, the biggest story was frenzied social media rumors speculating whether Donald Trump had died,” Colbert told his audience on The Late Show. “For the record, Donald Trump is very much alive, okay.” When the audience booed, Colbert shot back, “No, we like our presidents alive.” He poked fun at the White House’s so-called proof of life, including music wafting from the Rose Garden (“not the strongest proof of life,” he joked) and blurry photos reminiscent of Bigfoot sightings. “Yes, nurse, I do see that flat line, but the patient is clearly alive because his iPhone is playing ‘Papa Loves Mambo,’” Colbert quipped.
Colbert wasn’t alone in his skepticism. On social media platforms like TikTok and Bluesky, critics dissected every scrap of information, from a photo of Trump golfing with former NFL coach Jon Gruden to a mysterious video that appeared to show someone tossing trash bags from a second-floor White House window. The latter, which racked up millions of views, was explained by a White House aide as a contractor performing regular maintenance while Trump was away. Trump, for his part, dismissed the footage as “AI-generated” fakes, telling reporters, “The windows are sealed.”
Even Vice President JD Vance found himself inadvertently stoking the rumors. In an August 27 interview with USA Today, Vance expressed confidence that Trump was “in good shape” and would “serve out the remainder of his term,” but added, “And if, God forbid, there’s a terrible tragedy, I can’t think of better on-the-job training than what I’ve gotten over the last 200 days.” Colbert seized on the interview, airing a clip in which Vance praised Trump’s energy and late-night phone calls, then joked, “The President doesn’t sleep and is on the phone all night, proof that he is completely healthy or runs a phone sex line.”
This was far from the first time Trump’s health had become fodder for online speculation. Back in September 2020, Trump preemptively denied suffering “a series of mini-strokes” on social media—without any mainstream suggestion that he had. And, of course, in October 2020, Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis sent shockwaves through Washington just two months before the first vaccines became available; he spent three days at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Transparency about Trump’s health has long been a point of contention. His former physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein, once claimed that Trump dictated a statement about his “astonishingly excellent” health, which was then released under Bornstein’s name. In 2019, Trump’s surprise visit to Walter Reed was shrouded in secrecy, with staff reportedly asked to sign nondisclosure agreements. The eventual explanation: a routine colonoscopy.
Yet, for all the online drama, inside the White House, staffers seemed largely unfazed. “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, according to NBC News. “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.”
Still, internet conspiracy theories have a way of persisting, no matter how many times they’re debunked. As the sun set on Tuesday, #Trumpdead was once again climbing the trending charts on X. Whether it’s blurry photos, AI-fueled paranoia, or just the relentless churn of the online rumor mill, one thing is certain: in the digital age, even the most outlandish stories can gain traction in a matter of hours.
For now, though, Trump is very much alive—golfing, posting, and, if the late-night comedians are to be believed, perhaps making a few late-night phone calls of his own.
