On Monday (May 11), during a meeting about reproductive health in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump looked to be fast asleep as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy spoke. The moment was caught on video and quickly went viral on social media.
A still image was shared by Reuters correspondent Idrees Ali in a post on X, formerly Twitter, citing the photographer. It amassed 1.2 million views to date and generated hundreds of reactions. The RapidResponse47 account on X wasn’t pleased, reposting Ali’s image with a furious caption: “He was blinking, you absolute moron,” it read.
The moment has again raised questions about Trump’s overall health during his second term in office as president. It marks the fourth time where he has appeared to doze off during a public meeting. At 79, Trump is the oldest person to have assumed the role of president. When former President Joe Biden left office, he was 82, and had his reelection efforts hounded by numerous questions about his age and fitness for the role.
Trump also heavily attacked Biden about his age while campaigning in 2024, referring to Biden as “Sleepy Joe.” The Republicans Against Trump account reposted a clip of Trump appearing with comedian Andrew Schulz, stating: “You’ll never see me sleeping in front of a camera.”
These moments of him appearing to fall asleep come after multiple sightings of his hands being bruised repeatedly, along with another bruise on his neck. The White House has also made attempts to explain those bruises away as the after-effects of shaking hands.
The reactions from observers on social media to the White House’s defense of Trump range from disbelief to outright alarm. One poster on X wrote, “If Biden did this once it would be on Fox every night for 2 weeks. Trump does this during EVERY meeting now.”
