Fact Check: Is Former President Donald Trump Dead?

The internet and social media are filled with conspiracy theories and fake news. One piece of fake news is that former U.S. President Donald Trump is dead. Did Trump die? Here’s a quick fact check.

The former president is more popular than President Joe Biden. We have at least two statistical pieces of evidence to show that while Biden’s popularity has come down, Trump is perhaps more popular now than he was during his presidency.

In 2021, Google searches for Trump were higher than that of Biden and the trend has continued so far in 2022. Trump is still popular electorally even though Biden’s popularity has nosedived. Real Clear Politics compiled the results of different polls conducted between November 3, 2021, and December 19, 2021, which showed that if the election was held now, Trump would beat Biden.

Rising inflation, the handling of the Afghanistan crisis, and rising gasoline prices, which are at least partially due to the Biden administration’s policies, are some of the reasons American voters are getting disillusioned with Biden. His popularity plunged by 30 points in the first year, which is the worst drop in 75 years.

Thomas Welnicki, 72, from Rockaway Beach, has been criminally charged with threatening to kill Trump. Welnicki saw Trump as a threat to democracy and even referred to him as “Hitler” once. However, Welnicki's lawyers have said that he didn't intend to harm anyone but was only expressing his anger.

To debunk the rumors, Trump isn't dead. He's still very active in politics and business. Trump has been holding massive rallies, which leaves little doubt that he intends to run again in 2024. In American history, only Grover Cleveland returned to the White House after losing re-election and served as the 22nd and 24th president. However, it was towards the end of the 19th century.

Trump was supposed to do a press conference on Jan. 6, the first anniversary of Capitol Hill violence. However, he backed out and will do a rally on Jan. 15 in Florence. He has already predicted a “big crowd” at the event. The crowds at Trump’s rallies have been swelling.

Aside from politics, Trump has been active in business also. He intends to take on what conservatives see as the “biased liberal social media” and launched TMTG (Trump Media & Technology Group). The company will launch a social media network and a streaming service.

YouTube competitor Rumble, which is also popular among conservatives, is going public through a SPAC reverse merger. There has been a lot of interest in social media companies that support conservatives.

Trump’s TMTG is going public through a reverse merger with Digital World Acquisition (DWAC). Thanks to Trump’s popularity, DWAC stock soared after the merger and is the most active SPAC. Trump is already the richest U.S. president and if TMTG continues the momentum after it goes public, he will add more to his net worth.