Americans Mock Trump’s New Portrait With Ruthless Dig
The White House has released a new portrait of the president, and the country is reacting with surprise to one detail.
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At the start of the president’s birthday month, the White House posted a new portrait of Donald Trump, 79, placing him slightly further back in frame and in noticeably warmer tones than his sharper, more tightly cropped 2025 images.
Yet rather than commenting on the president’s appearance, social media users focused on his posture, noting that, unlike in many of his recent appearances, his eyes are open and he does not appear to be dozing off.
“Why are his eyes open? It’s not natural,” one user commented on X , while another posted a photo of the president with his eyes closed in the Oval Office, appearing to be asleep, writing, “This is a far more accurate depiction…”
The Oval Office photo comes from a Thursday briefing, where the president appeared to have his eyes closed for a questionably long time during an announcement on “Beautiful, Clean Coal,” while members of his administration stood awkwardly behind him.
“What’s wrong with this one?” a user asked, attaching a photo of Trump with his eyes closed. Another user called the Thursday image “More accurate…,” while a third wrote, “Well at least he’s awake.”
The Daily Beast has extensively chronicled the near-octogenarian’s various health concerns, including bruising and heavily concealed hands, swollen ankles, and frequent public episodes of apparent sleepiness, which have become more common in 2026.
According to Dr. Jonathan Reiner, formerly a cardiologist to the late former Vice President Dick Cheney, Trump suffers from “severe daytime somnolence,” which he described to CNN as a “severe illness.”
“Anybody who has eyes, ears, and a brain… and hasn’t drunk the Kool-Aid or been bitten by a MAGA zombie, can see for themselves that this person is transparently mentally ill and cognitively deteriorating,” Dr. John Gartner, a former Johns Hopkins University professor, told The Daily Beast Podcast, suggesting that Trump has been “showing signs of frontotemporal dementia since 2019.”
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The president’s health also appears to have drawn attention among Americans, with many on social media commenting on his decision to prominently display only one of his hands in the new portrait.
“Did they specifically want a picture of him covering the gigantic bruise on his right hand? Smooth thinking!” one person commented on X. “Where is the bruise? He never leaves home without it,” another added.
A photo taken while the president spoke to reporters in Wisconsin on Friday also drew public scrutiny after he revealed a hand that was red and bluish in tone, with prominent veins.
Trump’s hands have long drawn speculation about his health. He has had a bruise on his right hand for nearly a year, which he often appears to cover with unevenly applied concealer in noticeably different shades.
The White House initially insisted the bruising was from too much hand-shaking, and officials have also claimed the bruising is the result of Trump’s high-dose aspirin regimen.
In his new portrait, the president is seen covering his right hand completely, while the White House captioned the image on X with a quote from Trump: “It Will All Work Out Well In The End.”
The portrait marks the third released in his second term, all of them taken by photographer Daniel Torok.
Trump’s inaugural portrait was inspired by his 2023 mugshot, taken after his arrest on racketeering charges related to efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia. The second, released in June, was less harshly lit than the first and featured the president against a black background.
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The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
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