The president’s attempt to shut down chatter of his mortality may have only made things worse.

President Donald Trump, 79, was largely absent from public view for several days last week, sparking an online death-watch fueled by his visibly swollen cankles, bruising on his hands, difficulty walking, and a string of mental gaffes.

Though reporters spotted him in-person Saturday morning at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, Trump seemed to directly respond to the viral speculation on Sunday with a Truth Social post featuring a photo of himself golfing with disgraced NFL coach Jon Gruden.

But the post quickly backfired when eagle-eyed social media users dug up an Instagram post from Gruden dated Aug. 23, showing him in the exact same clothes—fueling theories that the image Trump posted wasn’t recent at all.

That hypothesis was all but confirmed after sleuths uncovered Associated Press footage from Aug. 23 showing Trump himself wearing the same outfit as the one in his Truth Social post.

    • WhyIHateTheInternet@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      7 days ago

      No no you don’t understand see he’s not dead he’s playing golf see it’s right here in this picture which some say it’s one of the best pictures and besides national guard and other things that hugely important things

    • paraphrand@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      7 days ago

      If he dies, I bet they use that to tell everyone to shut up each time it comes up. “The man’s dead! Have some respect! There’s no point in digging deeper now!”

  • panda_abyss@lemmy.caEnglish
    19·
    7 days ago

    I wonder if he had surgery or something.

    There’s really no reason to lie here… and also it’s a bit pathetic that Americans elected two presidents in a row where if you don’t see them you start assuming they probably died.

    • pelespirit@sh.itjust.worksOPMEnglish
      11·
      7 days ago

      As I said before in another thread, judging by the bruises on his hand, he was probably set up with an IV for hydration every night. But then, judging by Vance saying he’s ready to take over and the pic they had of him being “alive,” he probably had a mini stroke or a light heart attack, something like that, after the IVs.

          • spongebue@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            7 days ago

            Huh, I didn’t know that either! I meant that at some point in his first term (“season 1”) he was there overnight but only for a few hours. It was a big enough deal to hit the news, but not for long at it was soon forgotten.

            To be honest with the relationship they have, I would think Melanie would only go to the hospital if Donald weren’t there, or if she had an ending to look forward to.

    • 474D@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      7 days ago

      I bet he got a huge ass zit on his face and they told him not to fuck with it, so he fucked with it a lot and he’s too vain to show out with it. We’ve seen his makeup crew is ass with how they cover up his hand bruises and the bronzer probably fucks with it too

    • Wytch@lemmy.zipEnglish
      9·
      7 days ago

      I think the entire “distraction or not” debate is moot. With the average politician, there’s strategy in redirecting the narrative. With a narcissist like Trump, everything is a distraction, and not a distraction. He feeds on attention, any attention. Everything he does and says is bizarre, outlandish, and designed to keep your attention, so there is never an end to the firehose of bullshit.

      It’s all real. He has no guile. It’s just also all bullshit.