Why was President Donald Trump waving at empty space?
A video of the president departing for Kansas Monday afternoon showed him wandering off across the White House’s newly renovated helicopter pad, waving, saluting, and bowing as if he were interacting with a crowd of onlookers. When the camera panned out, however, it was clear that there was no one in the vicinity.
From another angle, Trump can be seen dragging his right leg and patting it as he approaches Marine One. He suddenly stops walking and starts waving to no one. Meanwhile, his aides approached from an entirely different direction.
Users on X speculated that the president might’ve been hallucinating or waving at his reflection—both troubling possibilities.
Brian Krassenstein, a political podcaster and social media influencer critical of Trump, responded to the strange moment. “I now have absolutely no doubt that Donald Trump has major mental decline,” he wrote on X. “Just think for one minute if Joe Biden had waved into the abyss like Trump just did here. Imagine what Fox News would be saying.”
This isn’t the first time Trump has appeared to wander off confusedly. In October last year, Trump seemed to forget where he was going as he walked through a room filled with dignitaries and a military band during a visit to Japan, at one point even leaving Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi behind.
This strange behavior is just the latest example of Trump’s apparent cognitive decline. Since returning to office, the president has often appeared to lose track of his thoughts, his whereabouts, and even his grasp on the English language.