President Donald Trump has sparked fresh speculation about his health after his face appeared droopy at a memorial for the September 11 attacks.
The right side of the 80-year-old president’s face drooped significantly as he sat on stage at the Pentagon during a memorial service in which he also struggled to stay awake.
“That’s a facial droop,” pointed out the Washington-based pulmonary and critical care physician Nick Mark on X.
The president’s alarming appearance comes exactly a year after a droopy face sparked similar concerns at a 2025 event memorializing the terror attack. It was the right side of Trump’s face that was abnormally drooping then, too.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump’s initial facial drooping led experts to speculate he had suffered a stroke. Professor Bruce Davidson of Washington State University’s medical school told The Court of History podcast that there is “evidence” to back up his claim.
“I think his stroke was on the left side of the brain, which controls the right side of the body,” he said. “I think the stroke was six months ago or more, earlier in 2025. There are videos of him shuffling his feet, which is not what we’d seen previously when he was striding on the golf course. We’ve seen him holding his right hand cradled in his left. Earlier in 2025, he was garbling words, which he hadn’t done before and which he’s improved upon more recently.”
Davidson said that Trump also has “marked episodes of excessive daytime sleepiness,” known medically as hypersomnolence, which are common among stroke patients.
Davidson later wrote for the Daily Beast, “To the trained, careful observer, it is evident that President Donald Trump had a stroke.”
A firestorm of health concerns has surrounded Trump in his second term.
Officially, Trump has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a condition that occurs when leg vein valves fail, causing blood to pool. The Daily Beast has also chronicled his other visible ailments, including his bruised hands, which he often covers with makeup, as well as his severely swollen ankles and struggles with walking in a straight line and staying awake.
Rumors of a possible stroke swirled again on Friday after the president’s memorial appearance.
A sarcastic post that went viral read, “While at the 9/11 ceremony at the Pentagon on Friday,... President Droopy-Face,... definitely did not exhibit signs he was having a stroke. The 80-year-old is just fine. He doesn’t have end-stage dementia... and is in perfect health. There is no cause for concern.”
Left-wing commentator Jo Carducci speculated on whether the Washington media would press Trump on his face drooping or not. She posted to X, “Will the WH pool reporters ask him about this or nah?”
