Trump’s Strange On-Camera Moment Has Health Rumors Spiraling Again
President Donald Trump boarded Air Force One, and cameras caught a moment that has everyone wondering what he was thinking before the door closed behind him.
The brief pause has social media debating whether it was a brain fart, his ego, or something else entirely.
The nation’s oldest sitting president was caught on camera giving a slow, emotional wave at the top of Air Force One’s stairs, channeling more of a rock-star farewell than a presidential goodbye.
It was dark and nearly midnight when the 79-year-old commander in chief made his dramatic exit from Washington on Friday. As Trump slowly ascended the retractable stairs to the plane, he paused to deliver his signature wave — except this time, viewers couldn’t figure out who he was greeting in the dark.
Some suggested Trump was waving at the Secret Service, while others were convinced it had to be his ever-loyal imaginary friends and supporters. Within hours, the clip spread across social media — and the jokes practically wrote themselves.
“Who … is he waving to at midnight?” one user wrote, capturing the bewilderment many felt watching the scene unfold.
Another elaborated on what they saw as a pattern: “Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! That’s his ego waving! Check out pics of him waving wildly as the camera pans around to nobody! At a car race, leaving Dump Towers and ALWAYS as he lumbers up the steps of AF1! All available for your viewing pleasure on Google.”
The responses ranged from humorous to pointed. “Where is his escort?,” said one person
“He’s not waving at anyone…he is trying to get the flies off him,” one person joked, while another asked, “Who the hell was he waving too? Nobody was there. The First Lady was parting it up. The Great Pumpkin is gone.”
As more people asked who he was waving to, one person alleged, “No one. He seems to have a lot of imaginary friends and donors.”
The midnight wave to an imaginary crowd fits into a larger narrative about Trump’s relationship with crowds. Throughout his political career, he has consistently emphasized tremendous audience sizes at his events. He famously claimed his 2017 inauguration drew larger numbers than Barack Obama’s 2009 ceremony, despite photographic evidence showing otherwise.
At the Democratic National Convention in August, Obama highlighted what he called Trump’s “weird obsession with crowd sizes,” using a hand gesture to indicate something small that drew laughter and applause from attendees.
Barack Obama just got under Trump’s skin BIGLY…
“His WEIRD obsession with crowd sizes” pic.twitter.com/A0NLkV8qQE
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) August 21, 2024
The latest Air Force One moment comes weeks after Trump’s Oct. 19 boarding in Palm Beach raised eyebrows. Following a weekend of golfing at his private club, the president needed support and used smaller stairs to board the presidential plane, allegedly due to heightened security measures. Eric Trump, the president’s son, referenced a hunting stand reportedly found near Palm Beach International Airport, though the incident left many questions unanswered.
Despite returning to the standard tall stairs after landing at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, concerns about his mobility persisted.
Those concerns have led to practical modifications.
Video footage from August showed bold “Watch Your Step” messaging on Air Force One’s stairs after Trump met in Anchorage, Alaska. The safety measures came months after he appeared to stumble while climbing the aircraft’s stairs in June.
The 89th Airlift Wing maintains operations for Air Force One, and any modifications require military approval and oversight in coordination with the Secret Service.
Whether it was a moment of habit or pure performance art, one thing’s for sure — even in the dead of night, Trump still manages to make an exit feel like prime-time television.
Trump left Washington for a nearly week-long Asia tour, with major stops planned in Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea. The trip marks his first visit to Asia and longest journey abroad since taking office in January.
