Trump's Viral Moment: Did He Fall Asleep At The RNC?

A video circulating on social media that appears to show former President Donald Trump fall asleep during a speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee has gone viral. The clip filmed during Harmeet Dhillon's speech shows Trump appearing to momentarily drift off while his running mate JD Vance is next to him with his eyes open. The footage was quickly posted by several users on X, formerly Twitter, and was quickly shared by Trump critics with large followings. User @plies, a frequent Trump critic, posted, "🤣🤣🤣🤣 He Can't Stay Awake At The RNC!! He Sleep Bih!!!!! 🤣🤣🤣 The Media Give Dude All The Passes!!!" This post amassed over 1.5 million views by Tuesday morning.

What We Know

CBS News verification producer Jim La Porta attempted to clarify the situation on X, writing that Trump's eyes were closed not because he was asleep, but because the clip was allegedly during Pastor James Roemke's prayer. But further scrutiny from Newsweek reveals that the widely circulated clip actually occurred four minutes later, during the speech by Dhillon, a National Committeewoman of the Republican National Committee for California and a regular Fox News guest.

During Roemke's prayer, the vast majority of the audience had their eyes closed, including Trump and Vance. Some users misleadingly shared Roemke's prayer clip, falsely claiming that Trump was asleep at this time by cropping out other audience members whose eyes were also closed.

Progressive user @acnewsitics compared the moment to rhetoric used by critics of President Joe Biden to describe his age and infirmity, stating, "If Trump can't stay awake at his own convention, how is he going to stay awake for America? I think it's time he should step down and let someone much younger and who is not a convicted felon take his place." This post had garnered over 1.6 million views by Tuesday morning.

Other Trump critics misleadingly posted the wrong clip, where Trump's eyes were closed during the prayer, including user @iamgabesanchez, who wrote: "Trump fell asleep at the RNC. On the first night. He just got there." This video, with the misleading clip, received 620,000 views by Tuesday morning.

The incident has sparked discussion partly because of Trump's frequent mocking of President Joe Biden, calling him "Sleepy Joe," to question his fitness for the presidency. At 81, Biden is the oldest president in American history and has admitted he "almost fell asleep" on stage during his widely criticized performance at the first presidential debate in Atlanta.

However, Trump, at 78, would be the second oldest president after Biden. Several journalists reported that he appeared to doze off multiple times during his criminal trial in New York, after which Biden dubbed him "Sleepy Don." Trump denied that he fell asleep in the courtroom.

Whether he fell asleep or not, Trump's appearance at the convention comes only two days after he survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, where a bullet grazed his ear. One rally attendee was killed, and two more were wounded by the gunman.

Updated at 6.55 a.m. E.D.T. to change embedded video.