A wild rumor has erupted on social media that President Donald Trump, 79, is dead.
In the past few days, X (formerly Twitter) has been saturated with posts by social media users claiming the 47th president is dead. While there isn’t any strong evidence supporting this, the speculation appears to stem from a few things.
For starters, President Trump has not been seen in public since Tuesday and is not scheduled to make any appearances this weekend.
Adding to the fire, Vice President JD Vance made remarks in an interview on Wednesday that, while intended to be reassuring, were interpreted by some as raising concerns about the president’s well-being.
In an interview with USA Today on Aug. 27, Vance was asked about the president’s health and his own readiness to assume the presidency if necessary. “The president is in incredibly good health,” Vance said. “He’s got incredible energy.” He further emphasized Trump’s work ethic, saying, “He’s the last person making phone calls at night, and he’s the first person who wakes up and the first person making phone calls in the morning.”
When asked if he could step in if something ever happened to Trump, Vance seemed ready.
“Yes, terrible tragedies happen,” Vance said. “But I feel very confident the president of the United States is in good shape, is going to serve out the remainder of his term and do great things for the American people.”
Vance 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.”
The third element fueling the theory that the reality-star-turned-president has passed away comes from a comment that “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening made last month at San Diego Comic-Con.
While speaking on how long “The Simpsons” will continue to go on for, Groening said, per Variety: “I honestly thought 36 was where we were going to end it. No, there’s no end in sight. We’re going to keep going. We’re going to go until somebody dies. When you-know-who dies, ‘The Simpsons’ predicts that there will be dancing in the streets. Except President Vance will ban dancing.”
Trump’s age has been a concern for many Americans as the oldest president to ever take office. While the White House has maintained that Trump is in good health since he took office in January, it did announce last month that he had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a common and not life-threatening vein condition.
While President Trump hasn’t been publicly spotted in a few days, he did pen a post on Truth Social on Friday assuring that all tariffs are still in effect after an appeals court in Washington, DC, ruled that his tariffs were largely unconstitutional.
The White House has yet to comment on the growing rumors that Trump is dead.
