On Monday (Aug. 10), President Donald Trump and Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were gathered in the Oval Office of the White House for the signing of an executive order. But the event gained heavy attention and ridicule over Trump being caught apparently snoozing during the event.
Trump signed an executive order, which called for children in the United States to receive fewer immunizations against 11 diseases and allowed parents more flexibility on the timing of getting their children shots.
It’s the third such move in less than a year, and Trump alluded to a belief of a link between vaccines and autism. “I’ve seen proof of it, where they have a vaccination where it looks like the size of a bottle of soda, poured into a little child’s body and bad things happen in too many cases,” he said. (There is no link, based on several research studies.)
As Kennedy began to speak to the press, Trump leaned back in his chair and appeared to doze off completely for a few minutes. His drowsy state continued with the next person to speak to the press.
Many online saw something else of note, zeroing in on a woman standing behind Trump to his right. She also appeared to have touched her stomach at certain points, which seemed to coordinate with when Trump appeared to stir from his drowsiness. She would be identified as Jayme Franklin, founder of the conservative outlet The Conservateur and a former Trump staffer.
Some online expressed their exasperation at how major media outlets weren’t highlighting how sleepy Trump appeared, noting that this is the latest of multiple episodes of him seeming to swiftly fall asleep in public. The president turned 80 in June, and he has battled consistent questions about his physical and mental well-being since the beginning of his second term. The White House has denied that Trump is sleeping, at one point claiming he was “blinking.”
1. Ron Filipkowski
