Some people spent Labor Day weekend in the United States soaking up the last of the summer’s rays. Others took to social media to speculate that President Donald Trump was at death’s door, or worse.

On X, the hashtags #trumpisdead and #whereistrump trended. Millions of people made or watched videos on TikTok speculating that Trump had died or suffered a stroke or another serious medical emergency.

The president is not dead. Trump spoke live at the White House on Tuesday. Even as rumours of his death went viral, he had been photographed by news outlets, and his Truth Social posts racked up thousands of interactions.

“How did you find out over the weekend that you were dead?” Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked Trump, who stood before reporters in the Oval Office. “Did you see that?”

Trump said he had not seen claims alleging his death.

“I didn’t see that. I have heard. It’s sort of crazy, but last week, I did numerous news conferences. All successful, they went very well. Like this is going very well,” Trump said. “And then I didn’t do any for two days, and they said, ‘There must be something wrong with him.’”

Trump does have a real, but non-life-threatening, health condition. But the false notion that Trump was dead or dying gained traction through a combination of factors: a Vice President JD Vance quote that was mischaracterised on social media; political left-leaning influencers’ scrutiny of Trump’s low-key holiday weekend with no public scheduled events; and exaggerations of the president’s known health history alongside images showing some of his health condition’s symptoms.

The rumours started swirling following an August 28 USA Today interview with Vance.

USA Today White House correspondent Francesca Chambers asked Vance whether he is “ready to assume the role of commander-in-chief”, noting that Trump is the oldest president to have been sworn in.

Vance answered: “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. 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.”

Even though Vance said multiple times that Trump is in good health, social media users jumped on his comments about being ready to assume the presidency as evidence that something was awry.

The phrase “Trump is dead” appeared at least 5,616 times from August 28 to September 2 across X, Reddit, YouTube and Bluesky, according to data from Rolli IQ, a social media monitoring tool. X users based in other countries, including Brazil and Australia, also posted the phrase, Rolli IQ data showed.

The X posts containing the phrase generated the most engagement, with more than two million likes and 122,000 shares in total.

News of Vance’s quote was widely shared on X, with millions of views and other interactions. The next day, on August 29, an X post viewed 13.8 million times went further, saying: “Trump is dead. He died on Wednesday.” It provided no evidence. Google searches for the phrase “is Trump dead” started increasing the same day, peaking at 3am ET (07:00 GMT) on August 30.

Social media used Trump’s schedule and health history as fodder for speculation

Online posts pointed to Trump’s schedule as further evidence that something must be wrong. Following a three-hour televised cabinet meeting on August 26, Trump had no public events for six days. The lack of face time for a president who is often on camera fuelled claims that Trump’s health was in decline.

On August 29, Laura Rozen, a Washington, DC-based diplomatic correspondent for news website AL-Monitor, posted on X: “Trump has no public events scheduled all weekend. Don’t believe he was seen today either.” That post gained 33.9 million views.

An X account called “Did Donald Trump Die Today?” existed before the Labor Day weekend rumour; it has been posting “no” answers to its namesake question since December 2024. But when the account reposted Rozen’s observation with the caption, “Yeah he likely died LOL”, it garnered 14.3 million views.

Although Trump had no public meetings, his schedule was not suspended as some users claimed. The White House continued to publicly release and chronicle meetings and actions.

But some on social media persisted. They pointed to photos of Trump’s swollen ankles and bruised hands, and a July letter from his doctor diagnosing Trump with chronic venous insufficiency, a common condition that can cause leg swelling. It is not typically life-threatening.

“Here’s how I know the president has had a stroke and the White House is lying about it,” one user who identified himself as a physical therapist said in a September 1 TikTok with more than three million views that has since been taken down. The user analysed Trump’s April medical report, saying his medications are evidence that “Trump has had a stroke, or maybe even a heart attack in the past”.

Jeffrey Blevins, a University of Cincinnati professor who teaches media law and ethics, said Vance’s comment may have been innocuous, but in combination with the bruises, questions about Trump’s health and lack of public events, it “gives spark to these [kinds] of ideas”.

On Truth Social, Trump posted on August 31 that he has “never felt better” in his life.

Trump is not the first world leader to be the subject of rumours of his alleged death. Cliff Lampe, a University of Michigan School of Information professor, said in the 1940s, rumours of Soviet Union Premier Joseph Stalin’s death circulated. Stalin died in 1953.

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro and former Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini also “had rumours of death before they had actually died”, he said. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was also a subject of death hoaxes. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been rumoured dead on several occasions.

“In all of these cases, rumours are fuelled where the leader purposely constrains access to a free press, or is otherwise secretive. It’s also more likely where the leader has enemies who want to destabilise their legitimacy,” Lampe said.

In June, Trump himself reshared a post on Truth Social that baselessly claimed former President Joe Biden had been executed in 2020 and replaced with clones or robots.

Before that, people also speculated Biden was dying or dead after he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race. At the time, conservative social media users circulated the rumour.

“The difference is that theory was really fringe, while the current one is more in the mainstream of questioning Trump’s health,” Blevins said.

Liberal influencers stirred suspicions about Trump’s health

Liberal social media influencers who specialise in political news fed into the Labor Day weekend craze. They made videos that amassed millions of views, questioning Trump’s health, demanding answers from the White House.

Some influencers clarified that Trump was not dead, calling that a conspiracy theory and pointing to reporters’ photos of Trump leaving the White House to play golf at his Virginia golf course.

“But folks, there’s no conspiracy about whether or not Trump is alive. He’s alive. Stop spreading that,” influencer Aaron Parnas said in a September 1 TikTok. “These are literally from White House pool reporters today. But that does not change the fact that questions still remain about the president’s health, and we should still keep asking them.”

Other influencers scrutinised photos of Trump, saying he looked “frail and weak”.

“Very, very sickly looking as well. Something is going on there,” said Ben Meiselas, a lawyer and podcast host for liberal news website MeidasTouch, in an August 31 TikTok. “It appears to be, and again this is just an opinion, I’m not a doctor, some serious either cardiovascular, kidney or liver issue based on medical professionals I’ve spoken to.”

One influencer speculated based on a video the White House posted on September 1 on X, titled “11 Lessons”.

“The White House just posted what appears to be an in memoriam reel for Donald Trump,” influencer V Spehar said in a TikTok with three million views. “As you know, we haven’t seen Trump on video since his cabinet appearance. And there has been speculation that perhaps the president suffered a stroke.”

The White House’s video showed clips of Trump at all stages of his life, as inspirational music played behind audio of Trump.

“Never let anyone tell you that something is impossible,” Trump said at the end. “In America, the impossible is what we all do best.”

People share conspiracy theories in response to an unfulfilled psychological need, Lampe said. When people circulated rumours about Biden’s health, he said, they likely exaggerated the extent of his cognitive decline because “it offers an ‘escape’ from a leader they don’t like”.

“For people who may not like the current administration, the overall theory is probably a release valve,” he said.

Ellen Hine and Maria Briceno contributed to this report