‘Trump is dead’: Here’s why this false claim is trending on X

Social media platform X was flooded on Saturday with false claims declaring US President Donald Trump “dead”, with over 85,000 posts with the phrase posted on the social media platform just this morning.

While the claim is false, netizens have been quick to spread the “news” due to multiple reasons, chief among which is the lack of any reported sightings of Trump in the last 24 hours. Other reasons include “health concerns” such as his chronic venous insufficiency announced by the White House last month as well as JD Vance’s “terrible tragedy” remarks.

US Vice President JD Vance, while referring to doubts pertaining to the “health concerns” recently said, “Yes, terrible tragedies happen. But 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,” leading to discourse on Twitter about the implications of the statement.

Adding fuel to the fire, two posts alluding to the President’s (fake) death went viral on Saturday.

The first reads, “STREETS ARE SAYING TRUMP IS DEAD” and has over 100,000 likes.

Meanwhile, the second has over 13,000 likes and reads, “Trump has no public events scheduled all weekend. Don’t believe he was seen today either.”

The claims snowballed from there, leading to tens of thousands of posts with the phrase “Trump is dead”, which now occupies the first place in X’s “Trending in Politics” section. Here are some more posts under the tag.