President Donald Trump was photographed heading to play golf on Saturday after baseless rumors that he had died went viral on social media after certain reports said he hadn’t been seen in public for several days.
“I wake up to see people freaking out that Trump’s sick or dead or something because he hasn’t been seen in a few days,” wrote Daily Caller White House correspondent Reagan Reese on Saturday morning on X. “I was with the president yesterday afternoon. I interviewed him for an hour.”
Newsweek contacted the White House for comment on Saturday via email outside of regular office hours.
Why It Matters
On Friday, false rumors about Trump’s death began circulating across social media after reports said he wasn’t seen in public for two days. As of 9:15 a.m. ET on Saturday ‘#whereistrump’ was the sixth most popular trending topic on X in the United States.
Some 158,000 X posts including the phrase ‘TRUMP IS DEAD’ and 42,000 stating ‘TRUMP DIED’ had been made as of 7:48 a.m. ET. on Saturday, according to the platform’s analytics.
On Tiktok, a video posted by user w0odada with the caption “Streets are saying donald trump is dead??? And he hasnt been seen publicly since Tuesday???” received over 600,000 likes and 3.5 million views.
A separate TikTok from Harry Sisson, a progressive commentator, discussing the rumor, and dismissing it, racked up over 210,000 likes and 1.7 million views.
What To Know
Trump was pictured with his granddaughter Kai Trump getting into a vehicle on the south lawn of the White House. The president was wearing a white polo shirt, black pants and one of his trademark red MAGA hats.
Trump’s motorcade set off at 8:45 a.m. ET and was headed for a golf course in Virginia.
False rumors about Trump’s death had previously circulated across social media.
According to Grok, X’s AI-powered chatbot, posts speculating about Trump’s possible demise had acquired over 1.3 million user engagements as of Saturday morning.
On Friday, Ben Meiselas, co-founder of self-styled “pro-democracy” media outlet MeidasTouch, wrote on X: “Where did Trump go?! Where is he? What is happening? He has not made a public appearance in two days.”
On Friday evening, a post was made on Trump’s official Truth Social account.
It said: “ALL TARIFFS ARE STILL IN EFFECT! Today a Highly Partisan Appeals Court incorrectly said that our Tariffs should be removed, but they know the United States of America will win in the end. If these Tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the Country. It would make us financially weak, and we have to be strong. The U.S.A. will no longer tolerate enormous Trade Deficits and unfair Tariffs and Non Tariff Trade Barriers imposed by other Countries, friend or foe, that undermine our Manufacturers, Farmers, and everyone else.”
In July, photos of the president’s bruised hand circulated on social media, and the White House revealed that Trump had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), which his physician described as “benign and common.”
New photos that emerged on social media this week showed more bruising on Trump’s right hand, once again spurring conversations about the president’s health.
In an interview with USA Today that was published on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance said: “I feel very confident the president of the United States is in good shape, is gonna serve out the remainder of his term, and do great things for the American people.”
He added: “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.”
What People Are Saying
On X, Shayan Sardarizadeh, a senior journalist at BBC Verify, wrote: “Last year, some right-wing users on X convinced themselves that President Biden had died and the White House was keeping it quiet.
“The exact same thing is now happening with some left-wing influencers on X, who seem to think President Trump is dead and a cover-up is underway.”
Ian Bremmer, a political scientist who founded the Eurasia Group consultancy, on X said: “So many times internet has gone wild with the putin is dead and xi is dead rumors.
“That now happening with trump says a lot more about the state of mistrust in information and institutions in the united states than it does about the health of the president.”
On Friday evening the Republicans against Trump X account, which has over 940,000 followers, wrote: “Donald Trump hasn’t been seen in public since Tuesday and has no events scheduled all weekend. Where is he? Who’s running the country?” The post was shared 2,800 times and received over 1.5 million views from other X users.
Vance told USA Today: “The president is an incredibly good health. He’s got incredible energy.”
What Happens Next
The photograph and White House confirmation that Trump is going to play golf should squash the online rumors that the president has passed.
Update 8/30/25, 12:00 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
Correction 8/30/25, 2:04 p.m. ET: This article was updated/corrected to show 600,000 likes on a TikTok post instead of 600.