The president has recently faced renewed health speculation after delivering remarks at the White House’s “Champion of Coal” event on Wednesday (February 11).
At the gathering, Trump signed an executive order instructing the Department of Energy to move forward with coal-related power initiatives. During the ceremony, he was praised as the “undisputed champion of beautiful clean coal” and presented with a trophy by James Grech, CEO of Peabody Energy.
In his speech, Trump applauded American coal workers.
“I’m honored to welcome to the White House the men and women who power our cities. You do work most people don’t even realize,” he said. “You warm our homes, drive our factories, and transform natural resources into American prosperity and opportunity. Our incredible coal miners.”
However, later in the address, some viewers noticed what they believed sounded like slurred words, prompting discussion online.
One social media user wrote: “What’s going on? Are we just going to ignore that and say he’s perfectly fine?”
Another commented: “My grandfather had early dementia, and he spoke like this at the beginning before trying to change the subject.”
Following the wave of online concern, the White House responded with a strongly worded statement.
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told The Daily Beast: “President Trump is the sharpest, most accessible, and energetic president in American history.
“While the struggling Daily Beast pushes baseless conspiracy theories through its interns, President Trump spent the day advancing American energy independence, lowering costs, and putting Americans first.”
The statement itself quickly became a topic of discussion.
“It’s wild that anyone would read that and think everything is totally normal,” one Reddit user wrote.
Another reacted with disbelief, asking, “Is this real?”
This is not the first time Trump’s speech patterns have drawn attention. In 2017, he faced widespread mockery from comedians after briefly stumbling over his words during a public address about relocating the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, according to ABC News at the time.
