A poorly postured Donald Trump briefly surfaced on Sunday after several days away from public view sparked wild speculation about his health.
The White House had earlier been forced to push back against unfounded rumors that the 79-year-old president was hospitalized at the Walter Reed Medical Center.
Trump has not made a public appearance since his rambling address on his war with Iran on Wednesday.
On Sunday, photographer Nathan Howard captured the president returning to the White House following a short visit to his Virginia golf club. The image shows him appearing visibly hunched, dressed in golf attire, and clutching his phone.
Trump, a Christian, had skipped Easter service and instead gone on a bizarre presidential motorcade tour of Washington, D.C., including around Memorial Circle, where he hopes to build a towering arch honoring himself, according to pool reports.
The aging president, who ails from a number of health conditions, also stopped at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, although it’s unclear whether he played as rain fell across the region.
Trump returned to the White House shortly after midday Sunday, according to Reuters’ White House correspondent Hümeyra Pamuk.
On Saturday, the White House lashed out at speculation amid his days-long absence from the public eye.
“Deranged liberals cook up insane conspiracy theories when @POTUS goes 12 hours without speaking to press,” the White House’s rapid response account wrote on X. “(They said nothing when Biden routinely went 12 days without speaking to press) Fear not! President Trump literally never stops working.”
Apparently to prove that Trump was well and performing his presidential duties, the rapid response account reposted a photo by CBS News’ Emma Nicholson showing a Marine sentry standing outside the West Wing on Saturday afternoon. The presence of sentries signals that the president is in the West Wing or the Oval Office, as they are tasked with rotating shifts to guard the entrance.
White House communications director Steven Cheung also sought to allay the conspiracies without addressing them outright.
“There has never been a President who has worked harder for the American people than President Trump. On this Easter weekend, he has been working nonstop in the White House and Oval Office. God Bless him,” he wrote on X.
There have been growing concerns about Trump’s health as he nurses dark bruises on both of his hands, walks with visible swelling in his legs, and suffers frequent mental slip-ups and public sleeping fits.
Despite the laundry list of ailments, which the Daily Beast has comprehensively covered, the White House insists that Trump is in excellent health.
When reached for comment, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast in a statement, “President Trump is the sharpest, most accessible, and energetic president in American history. President Trump’s commitment is unwavering and he proves that every single day.”
