President Trump’s Memorial Day appearance at Arlington National Cemetery has reignited a months-long debate over the 79-year-old commander in chief’s fitness for office after video surfaced appearing to show him with his eyes closed during Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s remarks to honor fallen service members.

The 30-second clip quickly went viral, with critics accusing Trump of showing “no respect” at one of the nation’s most solemn ceremonies. The low resolution makes verification difficult, and no high-definition recordings of the ceremony exist. The camera’s considerable distance from Trump further complicates efforts to determine definitively whether his eyes were open or closed.

Medical Exam Follows Public Pressure

Trump visited Walter Reed Medical Center one day after the Arlington footage circulated online for what the White House termed a “preventative medical checkup.” The examination marked his fourth publicly disclosed health evaluation since returning to office. On Truth Social, Trump announced that everything “checked out perfectly.”

The medical appointment followed mounting pressure from Congressional Democrats, who sent a letter to the White House physician demanding cognitive screening results. As of late April, no annual physical for that year had been scheduled.

Cabinet Meeting Sparked Initial Scrutiny

The Arlington incident represents only the latest in a series of episodes that have put Trump’s stamina under a microscope. The scrutiny intensified when Trump appeared to lose a running battle with his own eyelids during an hours-long Cabinet meeting — the same gathering where he opened by invoking “Sleepy Joe Biden” and insisting he was “sharper than I was 25 years ago.”

During that meeting, Trump appeared to doze off roughly 15 minutes in, even as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick praised “the greatest Cabinet ever for the greatest president ever.” Cabinet members Scott Turner, Brooke Rollins, Scott Bessent, Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Lee Zeldin were also present. The session followed a detailed New York Times account of an apparently slowed second term.

Weeks later, Trump directly addressed the Cabinet episode. He said he had not slept but closed his eyes because he wanted to leave the meeting, prompting laughter from Lutnick. Trump acknowledged the meeting had been “a little bit on the boring side” and spoke for nearly 25 minutes straight before announcing, “We’re not going to go through the whole table.”

Spring Incidents Multiply Concerns

Additional footage emerged in March from a security roundtable in Memphis, Tennessee, where Trump faced accusations of nodding off. Later that month, authentic C-SPAN footage from an Oval Office meeting captured Trump closing his eyes for several seconds, opening them briefly, then shutting them again. The White House dismissed the incident as misreading of “blinking.”

Around the same time, a deepfake video depicting Trump striking his head on the desk circulated on Facebook, a fabrication traced to a self-described “digital memeist.”

After a viral clip showed Trump leaning over the Resolute Desk with his eyes closed during a healthcare affordability event, CNN cardiologist Dr. Jonathan Reiner publicly suggested Trump may suffer from “daytime somnolence” and called for formal sleep testing. Governor Gavin Newsom responded with a familiar jab: “Dozy Don is back.”

A group of 36 physicians issued a public statement calling for Trump’s immediate removal from office on medical grounds, citing what they described as mental instability. Multiple surveys showed a majority of Americans no longer believe Trump is mentally fit to serve. An Ipsos/Washington Post poll had found that just 40 percent of Americans believed the president possessed the mental capacity to perform his duties.

During a speech, Trump defended himself at length on the subject of cognitive testing. Observers noted heavy makeup appearing to cover bruising on both of his hands, the latest in a series of unexplained physical markings that have fueled speculation. Trump, who was inaugurated for his second term alongside Vice President JD Vance, turns 80 later that year.

Verification Proves Elusive

Independent fact-checkers have repeatedly urged caution on the most viral claims. Snopes has examined allegations that Trump nodded off at the 2024 Republican National Convention and at the funeral for Pope Francis, in addition to the Cabinet meeting and Oval Office gathering. In several cases, the most damaging visuals turned out to be manipulated or impossible to verify.

Yet the political fallout has not depended on certainty. Each new clip has revived mockery of Trump’s own years of attacks on his predecessor as “Sleepy Joe” — a label voters, and a growing number of doctors, are now turning back on the man who coined it.