Why Did Millions Celebrate Trump's Fake Death Over Labor Day Weekend?

Death wishes, dehumanization, and the logical endpoint of calling Trump Hitler

A Labor Day weekend that revealed everything you need to know about our political divide

While most Americans were enjoying their final summer hurrah (last pool parties, lake days, and the blessed ritual of pretending summer vacation isn't ending), a particularly unhinged corner of the internet was having a very different kind of party. They were celebrating the imagined death of a sitting U.S. President.

I tried my best to stay offline for the holiday weekend. Really, I did. But by late Saturday morning, habit got the better of me, and I opened X to find #TrumpDead trending nationwide. What I discovered was a rampant online frenzy speculating that President Trump was either terminally ill or possibly dead, all because he hadn't been seen publicly since Wednesday's four-hour marathon Cabinet meeting.

According to platform analytics, some 158,000 X posts included the phrase "TRUMP IS DEAD" and 42,000 stated "TRUMP DIED" by Saturday morning. The hashtags #WhereIsTrump and #TrumpDied were acquiring over 1.3 million user engagements. Google searches for "is Trump dead" and "Trump dead" topped trending lists by noon.

The speculation wasn't subtle. Social media users were posting things like "Donald Trump is dead. He has been since Wednesday." The Lincoln Project's Rick Wilson gleefully posted: "Waking up to #TrumpIsDead and #whereistrump reminds me that JD 'Popekiller' Vance has been spending a lot of time around Don lately." Ben Meiselas from MeidasTouch fueled the fire with posts asking "Where did Trump go?! Where is he? What is happening?" Even the Illinois governor Jamie Pritzker joined in with "Why don’t you send everyone proof of life first?" when responding to a Trump Truth of the violence in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend.

Of course, it was all nonsense. You would have thought Trump ended the speculation Saturday morning when photographers captured him at 8:45 a.m. wearing a white polo and his signature red MAGA hat, heading to his golf club in Sterling, Virginia, with his granddaughter Kai. The man was alive, well, and apparently working on his short game.

Regardless, the speculation continued. Many would dismiss the photos as "released by the White House" when they clearly came from the White House press pool. Then an "enhanced" image of Trump went viral showing a mass protruding out of his forehead (clearly an AI hallucination because of missing pixels).

On TikTok, there was a flurry of white liberal women reading Trump's health astrology charts (for whatever those are worth) to gauge whether or not Trump was ill, incapacitated, or dead.

And while nutters will nutter, what was most disturbing were the people who expressed glee, without shame, at the possibility that Trump could be dead. Worst yet? The Democrats and legacy media joining in on the speculation.

But here's what's really worth examining: the stark difference in how the political sides handle presidential health concerns.

We Are Not the Same (And Thank God for That)

Look, I'm not going to rehash all the talking points that everyone else has beaten to death over the past few days. Instead, I want to focus on something more fundamental: while the Left attempts to place themselves on the pedestal of moral superiority, this weekend proved they are anything but. And while Democrats and legacy media will try to make the speculation about Trump's health equivalent to Republican concerns about Biden's health, let me be crystal clear: we are not the same.

When Republicans expressed concerns about Biden's health during and after his election, it wasn't because they wished him death or illness. It was because even during his campaign, Biden showed signs of aging, diminished stamina, and losing his train of thought. He wasn't the same Biden many remembered from his vice presidency.

And boy, were there examples. Biden fell asleep at the UN Climate Conference in November 2021 (jet lag, they said). He read teleprompter instructions aloud in July 2022, literally saying "end of quote, repeat the line" during a women's rights event. In September 2022, he called out for Rep. Jackie Walorski at a White House conference: a woman who had died in a car accident the previous month. At a rally in Pennsylvania, he claimed to have visited "54 states" while promoting the Affordable Care Act. The man ended a speech in Connecticut with "God save the Queen, man" mind you nine months after Queen Elizabeth II had died.

Then there was the Special Counsel interview in February 2024, where Robert Hur described Biden as a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory" who struggled to recall when his son Beau died. The same press conference where Biden tried to defend his memory? He referred to Egypt's President el-Sisi as "the president of Mexico."

The June 2024 debate was the final nail in the coffin: rambling responses, trailing off mid-sentence, and the unforgettable "We finally beat Medicare" line. Then came the NATO summit disasters: introducing Ukrainian President Zelensky as "President Putin" and calling Kamala Harris "Vice President Trump" in the same week.

Reports from Original Sin revealed Biden failing to recognize George Clooney at a June 2024 fundraiser despite a 15-year relationship, and forgetting longtime aide Mike Donilon's name. Aides described "non-functioning" days where Biden lacked conversational ability entirely.

But here's the thing: through all of this, while right-leaning pundits did poke fun at Biden's slip-ups, wandering, and gaffes. The crucial difference? Not one wished him dead.

The Celebration of Death: A Rising Pattern

This weekend didn't reveal something new and ugly. It revealed the continuation of a disturbing pattern we've been watching unfold on the left: the open celebration of death. We saw it with the lionization of Luigi Mangione after he gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in cold blood on a Manhattan street in December. Social media erupted with praise for the "hot assassin." Look-alike contests were held. Merchandise featuring his image sprung up on Amazon. TikTok users swooned over his mugshot. Former Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz posted on BlueSky "And people wonder why we want these executives dead."

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A December 2024 Emerson College poll found that 41% of voters aged 18-29 found Mangione's actions acceptable. Not understandable. Not tragic but comprehensible. Acceptable.

Then came July's shooting at the Blackstone headquarters in Manhattan, where gunman Shane Tamura killed four people, including Wesley LePatner, a 43-year-old mother of two and senior executive at Blackstone. Within hours, social media trolls were celebrating her death with "Luigi'd" memes, stamping her photo with the phrase in red letters. "Wesley LePatner, CEO of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, has been evicted from the mortal plane," read one tasteless Facebook post that garnered thousands of likes. Others posted "CEO DOWN" and openly mocked the mourning of a woman who left behind two children.

The pattern is unmistakable: the left doesn't just wish death upon their perceived enemies anymore. They celebrate it. They meme it. They turn murder into merchandise and assassination into aspiration.

The Most Telling Thing of All

What's particularly revealing about the Democrats and leftists on social media is that they were so caught up in their hope that Trump was dead or incapacitated that they demonstrated very little concern about who would be next in line: Vice President JD Vance. According to their own rhetoric, Vance is potentially worse than Trump, apparently because he's Catholic, in a traditional marriage, and has three kids. (The horror!)

I saw very little reflection on the fact that someone they view as worse would become president if their death wishes came true. This makes it clear they have no concern about the wellbeing of the country. They simply want Trump to be dead. Period. End of story.

Meanwhile, Republicans are fully aware of Trump's age and that medical conditions can arise with age. That's a fact, and of course, it's a legitimate concern. But it's also clear to everyone that despite Trump's age, he is the most available and transparent president we've had in modern times. While Biden was calling early lids and hiding from reporters, Trump has conducting hour-long press conferences and exclusive interviews, including one with the Daily Caller on Friday while conspiracy theorists were convinced he was dead. The irony is almost too perfect.

The "Health Concerns" That Started It All

The weekend's rumors were partly fueled by photos showing bruising on Trump's hand and swollen ankles: images that had been circulating for weeks. In July, the White House released a letter from Trump's physician stating that the president had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, "a benign and common condition, particularly in individuals over the age of 70." The condition affects blood flow in the lower legs, leading to swelling.

The letter also explained that bruising on Trump's hand was caused by frequent handshaking and his use of aspirin as part of "a standard cardiovascular prevention regimen." The physician found no signs of "heart failure, renal impairment, or systemic illnesses."

But context didn't matter to the social media mob. They wanted their conspiracy theory more than they wanted facts. Facts are so boring when you're busy manifesting a presidential death through astrology charts and AI-generated tumor photos.

What This Really Reveals (Spoiler: It's Not Pretty)

This weekend wasn't really about Trump's health. It was about revealing the true character of our political divide. When faced with legitimate concerns about Biden's fitness for office (and trust me, there were plenty), conservatives worried about governance, national security, and constitutional continuity. When faced with baseless rumors about Trump's health, progressives threw a party.

The contrast is stark and telling. One side concerns itself with policy implications and who's actually running the country when the president can't remember basic facts. The other side hopes for death and celebrates imagined tragedy.

We're living in an era where political opponents aren't just adversaries: they're enemies whose deaths should be celebrated. That's not politics; that's pathology. But honestly, is this really surprising? When you have Democrat leaders standing at podiums and in interviews categorizing Trump as the second coming of Hitler and describing law enforcement or the National Guard as the Gestapo, what exactly did we expect? When you dehumanize your political opponents as existential threats to democracy itself, the logical endpoint is celebrating their demise.

Liam Mayes, a Rice University lecturer for media studies and politics, law and social thought, nailed it when he explained why this kind of madness spreads like wildfire: "That kind of speculation is extremely seductive, and that's one of the things that's going to drive the kind of media interest in it, especially on social media. It's an itch people are desperately wanting to scratch."

And boy, did they scratch. The enthusiasm with which some embraced and spread these rumors says far more about them than it does about Trump's actual health.

And that's why, despite all the attempts to draw false equivalencies, we are decidedly not the same. Thank God.

The Bottom Line

In the end, the primary concerns from conservatives about Biden were rooted in national security: questioning who was actually in charge if Biden was experiencing cognitive decline. Many viewed the continued propping up of Biden as president as akin to elder abuse. But no one wished or celebrated death or illness upon him.

This weekend revealed the continuation of something much darker: a political movement so consumed with hatred that they'd rather see their opponent dead than simply defeated at the ballot box. A movement that turns murder into memes and assassination into entertainment.

The president, by the way, posted "NEVER FELT BETTER IN MY LIFE" on Truth Social Sunday night. Something tells me he's going to outlast the people hoping otherwise.

Stay classy, internet. I'll be here taking notes on your next meltdown. 😏