A new photo of President Donald Trump has kicked up another round of chatter about his health and stamina, the sort of conversation that never seems to disappear for long. The picture was taken over Thanksgiving weekend at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach resort, and it shows him sitting at a table, leaning forward. His mouth is slightly open. His eyes are closed. It’s one of those caught-between-moments shots that most people would hope never makes it online and then it did, fast.
“Is it just me, or does Trump seem to be aging by a year for every week that goes by?” wrote “Dr. Dave,” a college professor who comments often on politics. His post was one of the first to take off.
And then it snowballed. One user wrote, “What the difference between this Pic and some 90yr old man in a nursing home looking for this teeth he dropped in his jello Not a thing Not a damn thing.” Another added, “Years of using hair and face coloring . His hair is white and firmly attached by superglue.” A third person jumped to health speculation, saying, “It must be a quite a challenge for his team, to continually juggle his medication levels, just to keep him going, but there’s no hiding the tell-tale signs..”
The interest in the photo isn’t coming out of nowhere. Questions about Trump’s age and stamina have been hanging in the air for the better part of a year. He has brushed them aside over and over, telling rally crowds he feels “strong,” “sharp,” and “better than ever.” He often circles back to his earlier cognitive tests, saying he “aced” them and would take another without hesitation.
Q: Is it just me, or does Trump seem to be aging by a year for every week that goes by?
A: It’s not just you. The only people who don’t realize it are the 77M barefoot cavemen who elected him. They wear red hats so you don’t mistake them for trees. pic.twitter.com/WkS4Obsruf
— Dr. Dave (@drdave1999) November 30, 2025
Even with those assurances, a handful of public moments earlier this year had people wondering. A couple of rallies showed him with a strained voice. At one event, he stepped down from a small platform more slowly than usual. The White House chalked those episodes up to heavy travel, long days, and, in one case, a cold. Trump himself told supporters in September he was getting over “a slight cold,” which sparked some quick rumor-mongering online before officials said he was fine.
The new photo now slides into that same conversation. Critics say the candid shot looks different from the carefully lit rally images and official portraits that usually circulate. It doesn’t have the big-stage polish. It isn’t trying to tell a story. It’s just a quiet moment someone captured at a table in Florida. So far, the White House hasn’t said anything about it, and there’s been no updated medical report. Trump’s last physical described him as in “excellent health,” the same wording his doctors have used before.
Trump has continued responding to health questions in his own way. Earlier this fall, when his voice cracked during a rally, he again mentioned the cold. He brought up the cognitive tests the same night. And when cameras caught him steadying himself stepping off a riser in August, it set off a flurry of posts that faded almost as quickly after the White House dismissed the speculation. It was similar to the 2020 moment when he walked slowly down a ramp at West Point, an incident he later blamed on slippery ground and the hard leather soles of his shoes.
