Labor Day weekend might have been quiet at the White House, but one viral video worked overtime to add fuel to unsubstantiated social media rumors about President Donald Trump’s health.
“In the past few hours speculation has spread suggesting that something extremely serious may have happened to President Donald Trump,” a narrator with a news-reporter cadence announced in a video posted to X on Sept. 1. “It all began when the president’s official schedule was suddenly suspended without any convincing explanation, sparking doubts about his true state of health.” The video had been viewed more than 1.4 million times as of late afternoon Sept. 2
The video said after Trump was diagnosed with a vascular condition, “All official commitments have been canceled and the White House website has stopped displaying future events.”
(Screenshot/X)
The White House in July announced that Trump has a common vein condition known as chronic venous insufficiency. It’s not typically life-threatening.
And although Trump’s Labor Day weekend was low-key — he golfed and met with his grandchildren — his official schedule wasn’t suspended. To the contrary, it detailed his meetings and golfing outings.
His schedule for Aug. 25 to Sept. 2 continued to be publicly released and chronicled numerous meetings, appearances and actions.
Monday, Aug. 25:
The president signed three executive orders: on Washington, D.C. crime; on prosecuting people for burning the American flag; and on ending cashless bail. He also met with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
Tuesday, Aug. 26:
Trump led a three-hour, televised Cabinet meeting.
Wednesday, Aug. 27:
Trump had lunch with Vice President JD Vance and signed a proclamation honoring Minneapolis’ Annunciation Catholic School shooting victims.
Thursday, Aug. 28:
Trump received an intelligence briefing and signed two executive orders.
Friday, Aug. 29:
Trump had no public events scheduled but sat for an interview with Reagan Reese of the Daily Caller.
Saturday, Aug. 30:
Trump had no public events but went to the Trump National Golf Club Washington, D.C., with his two grandchildren. The Associated Press photographers captured images of Trump walking with his grandchildren at the Sterling, Virginia, club.
Sunday, Aug. 31:
He had no public events scheduled but went back to the Trump National Golf Club Washington, D.C., with former Tampa Bay Buccaneers football coach, Jon Gruden. Getty Images captured multiple photos of Trump in transit.
Monday, Sept. 1:
Trump returned to his nearby golf club. AP and Getty Images published photos of Trump traveling to and from the White House.
Tuesday, Sept. 2:
Trump spoke at the White House announcing his administration’s plan to move U.S. Space Command headquarters from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Huntsville, Alabama. He also said the U.S. had carried out a strike to a Venezuelan “drug-carrying boat” in the southern Caribbean. Trump answered multiple media questions.
When a reporter asked him if he knew about the social media rumor that he had died, Trump said, “I was very active during the weekend,” and that he did a Daily Caller interview, visited people at his golf club and posted on Truth Social “numerous” times. Trump’s Truth Social account published 128 posts in seven days ending Sept. 2. An Aug. 31 post read, “Never felt better in my life.”
The video shared on X also said the White House website had stopped displaying future events, but there was no change in the White House’s usual scheduling procedures. The White House typically sends daily guidance to the media one day in advance. On Sept. 1, the schedule included his planned Sept. 2 White House announcement.
Where did the video originate?
The X video was originally posted Aug. 30 by a TikTok account. Among the account’s other posts are videos that used artificial intelligence-generated images and baselessly said Trump was resigning because of his vein condition; that Trump met with a body double of Russian President Vladimir Putin; and that Republicans and Democrats had “joined forces to completely block” Trump’s administration.
Trump’s official presidential schedule wasn’t suddenly suspended. We rate this claim False.
This fact check was originally published by PolitiFact, which is part of the Poynter Institute. See the sources for this fact check here.
Comments