It is not very common for a President of the United States, in the era of immediacy and endless cameras, to be asked if he is aware of the rumors about his possible death. And even less so for one who is everywhere. But like everything surrounding Donald Trump, there is no template to follow. "No, I was not aware. They are fake news," Trump said on Tuesday when journalists asked him about the major online rumor of the weekend.
If something has characterized the first seven months of Donald Trump's presidency, it has been his media omnipresence. He summons journalists more than once or twice a day, travels with them, holds press conferences that last for hours, and answers their questions every time an international leader visits the White House. Additionally, he constantly gives interviews and writes non-stop on his social media. Therefore, his absence during the last week, six consecutive days in which he could barely be seen from a distance and with a telephoto lens while getting in and out of the car, has fueled all kinds of speculations about his health.
Before the summer break, the President revealed that he suffers from chronic venous insufficiency, after the dissemination of a good number of photos showing swelling in his legs and bruises on his hands. Many doctors doubted the diagnosis, and in the last week, social media, forums, and even media outlets have made all kinds of speculations with the few available photos or his unmade-up face, even spreading rumors that the President could be hospitalized in serious condition.
Suddenly, the United States has become obsessed with the President's hands, bruises, blood clots, and the color of his skin, a recurring topic due to his use and abuse of makeup. It is the conversation everywhere, which is why today all cameras had a very clear and atypical order: to focus on them above all else.
His communication team chose to stay somewhat in the background over the weekend, stating that he was perfectly fine but without giving explanations as to why for the first time in his entire second term he had gone six consecutive days without public appearances or interactions. They even made the mistake of distributing photos of him playing golf with a football coach that were from weeks ago, generating more controversy.
But on Tuesday, Trump dispelled the stories, reappearing in front of the cameras for an announcement about the next location of the military command responsible for space. "I have been very active, I have done many things over the weekend. I don't give an interview for two days and rumors start, and Joe Biden never gave any and nothing happened," he stated somewhat resentfully and not without reason at that point.
Hours earlier, Scott Jennings, a conservative journalist and regular face on CNN, had released the audio of an interview with him, in which he criticized Vladimir Putin's lack of willingness. His tone of voice, hoarse and somewhat fatigued, clashed with the last display of physical prowess, the previous Tuesday, when he held a cabinet meeting in front of the cameras for over three and a quarter hours, something that the White House has tried to publicize over the weekend to quell speculations.
The curiosity was very evident. Tens of thousands of people tuned into the streaming services like that of the AP agency, and more joined as the 2:00 PM (local time) appointment to announce the change of location for the military command for space was delayed without any explanation. The pool of journalists who follow the President everywhere significantly noted that when they entered the room they were summoned to, the President was already there, standing in front of a microphone, as if suggesting that perhaps the White House did not want him to be seen walking. But once the event started, the usual Trump was seen.
The same humor, the same obsessions, the same tone responding to questions about the day's announcement, rumors, opposition, or crime in the country's major cities. Attacking his enemies and applauding his allies in Alabama. Talking about internet videos (asserting that one circulating showing someone throwing objects from a White House window is fake because those windows cannot be opened), memes, and deepfake videos made with artificial intelligence.
And this return came on an uncomfortable day that began with a federal judge's decision to consider the deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles completely illegal. Something relevant not for the past, as the soldiers were already withdrawn weeks ago, but for the future, as the city of Chicago, another Democratic stronghold, has been preparing for something similar. Trump plans to mobilize several federal agencies, and potentially the National Guard against the governor's will, just as he did this August in Washington DC, the capital.
Furthermore, Republican Congressman Thomas Masie, who has become a public enemy for the President and the MAGA world, has pushed a resolution for the lower house to request that the Department of Justice release the so-called Epstein Papers, one of the most delicate and damaging issues for the Administration. They are currently negotiating with the former associate of the pedophile financier, who is serving a 20-year sentence in prison, for a possible pardon or improvement of conditions in exchange for somehow exonerating Trump, who is heavily marked by his decades-long relationship with Epstein.