US President Donald Trump is just fine, he said in a message to followers, as he returned to the White House from a day at his Virginia golf club last weekend.
“NEVER FELT BETTER IN MY LIFE,” he wrote on Truth Social — a nod to the swirl of weekend speculation about his wellbeing.
That capitalised missive was followed by a steady stream of social media posts on Sunday evening and Monday morning — on everything from India tariffs, COVID-19 vaccines and crime — before he returned to Trump National Golf Club for the Labor Day public holiday.
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Trump made 26 public engagements last month — most recently, a three-plus-hour cabinet meeting last Tuesday where the president fielded questions on topics from Taylor Swift’s engagement to global conflicts.
So it was certainly unusual when, for three weekdays at the end of August, Trump’s public schedule went uncharacteristically dark.
There were no events on his schedule last Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, and the president spent his Labor Day weekend in Washington also with no public appearances scheduled.
The conspicuous absence lit conspiratorial corners of the internet and group chats ablaze with questions.
But on Saturday, he emerged, spotted by pool reporters in a white polo, black pants, and signature red “Make America Great Again” hat on the way to his Virginia golf club.
Grandchildren Kai Trump and Spencer Trump were also along for the ride.
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He returned to his club on Sunday — posting an undated photo of himself seated in a golf cart during a matchup with former NFL coach and media personality Jon Gruden — and again on Monday.
The White House press office often boasts of Trump as the “most accessible” president in history, tweaking his predecessor as they highlight his significant engagements with the press.
As questions arose about the president’s activities and whereabouts, a White House official said on Friday he was holding standard policy and staff meetings.
He also sat for an hour-long interview with the conservative publication Daily Caller.
“He’s very much alive!” Daily Caller White House correspondent Reagan Reese said in a post to social media previewing her interview – a nod to intense conjecture amid the very online set.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the online rumour mill generated intrigue amid broader concerns from the public about presidential wellness.
Trump, at 79, will be the oldest US president in history at the end of his term.
And former president Joe Biden was wracked with inquiries about his fitness for office, eventually prompting his withdrawal from his reelection campaign.
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Images of Trump’s bruised hand prompted some speculation last month, something the president’s physician, Sean Barbabella, dismissed as “minor soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin”.
The White House announced in July that Trump had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, after he was seen with swelling in his legs.
Trump, Barbabella said at the time, “remains in excellent health”.
