THE INTERNET IS abuzz with chat on one topic and one topic only this morning: whether the 47th President of the United States, Donald J Trump, has died. 

He hasn’t. The speculation seems to be based on three main factors: He hasn’t been out and about in public as normal since Wednesday, he was photographed with a bruise on his hand previously, and the White House flag is at half mast. 

The White House flag is at half mast today as a mark of respect for the Minneapolis school shooting victims. 

Trump has a clear official schedule for this weekend, but he is booked and busy again come Tuesday.

This week Trump met with the Abbey Gate families (relatives of Armed Forces members who were killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul four years ago).

He was videod and photographed at the engagement, and appeared very much alive. 

It’s also very normal for a US president to not have any engagements scheduled on any given weekend, and Trump has been busy posting on Truth Social in the meantime.

Part of what has been fuelling the rumours, which have come about all in the space of three days, is the comments Vice President JD Vance made when he was asked by a reporter if he would step into Trump’s shoes should a tragedy take place. 

Vance said that the President is in “good shape” but he did also say that should something awful happen, he could not think of any better “training for the job” than his experience as VP in the last 200 days. 

It was a slightly unusual response, but it’s not unusual for Vance to say something unusual, and again, the idea is nothing out of the ordinary; Kamala Harris became President for 85 minutes when Joe Biden was under anesthesia for a routine colonoscopy (which, while we’re talking trivia, was the only time the US has ever had a woman acting as President). 

So Donald Trump is not dead, according to every fact we have available to us. 

It’s worth noting that these rumours are being pushed by fringe groups online in the first instance, and it’s likely that this cycle will repeat itself on other occasions when he takes a weekend away from public engagements.