Donald Trump waved to a crowd and now everyone thinks he has syphilis

There’s no shortage of rumormongering when it comes to former President Donald Trump, but the latest chatter has little to do with the businessman-turned-politician’s harebrained policies. Instead, it’s centered around his health.

Rumors that the 2024 presidential candidate contracted syphilis popped off in mid-January after an image of the 77-year-old waving to a crowd went viral. The image features Trump waving to passerby and looking a bit more bedraggled than usual as he navigates a presidential campaign alongside numerous criminal cases and a defamation trial. His extended hand sports several angry-looking sores, which were more than enough to get the rumor mill churning.

Within hours, #SyphilisDon was trending over on X (formerly Twitter), where people gleefully piled onto the Republican frontrunner. The single image and a cluster of red spots was more than enough to prompt rumors of syphilis, a sexually-transmitted disease that often causes sores.

Jokes about travel bans, new CDC self-distancing measures, and anti-parasitics intended for livestock quickly followed circulation of the image as people delighted in the opportunity to mock the unpopular former president. Many of them are mean-spirited, but it’s hard to blame people for lashing out at a man facing nearly 100 felony counts.

There are plenty of alternate explanations for Trump’s sore-covered hand, of course, but the former president’s detractors are far more interested in the salacious version. The sores on Trump’s hand are very likely something other than syphilis, given their general look and location. Syphilis looks a fair bit different, on the hands, then what Trump is dealing with, and if it were actually syphilis then he’d likely be showing signs of the illness elsewhere.

It’s far more likely a result of one of the other theories, like excessive golfing without a glove or — shocking, I know — simply a result of his age. The man is pushing 80, and as we age, our skin gets thinner. There’s no denying that Trump has thin skin, which makes it more susceptible to injury. That could easily be what we’re seeing on his hand.

Even if it is a sign of disease, it’s not likely to slow Trump’s roll much. Sure, he’s likely displeased by all the people having fun at his expense on Twitter, but history shows just how little anything — from inappropriate language to inciting an insurrection — affects Trump’s prospects. In no time, #SyphilisDon will be little but a memory and the man himself will still be a frontrunner for America’s next president.