“Are hallucinations a stage of dementia?”: Lincoln Project reacts to misleading video of Trump seemingly waving at nobody before boarding Marine One

The Lincoln Project has weighed in on a clip of Donald Trump apparently waving at nobody on the White House helipad. The political advocacy group boasts more than one million followers on both Threads and Instagram. Their post went up, right as questions about the president’s health were making the rounds on social media.

It must be noted with absolute clarity that the clip turned out to be misleading because the footage had been cropped and didn't show the real scenario. In reality, Trump was waving at support staff and technical crews who helped with his departure. NTD pointed out that when the camera moved or widened, it showed that the area was not empty.

The Lincoln Project captioned the clip,

“Are hallucinations a stage of dementia?,”

They then added,

“Asking for an enemy...,”

(The above captions reflect The Lincoln Project’s own characterization of the footage and are included here for accurate reporting. No clinical diagnosis of President Trump has been made by this publication.)

As per The Lincoln Project’s official website, the group was launched in December 2019 by former Republican strategists who entered politics with two main aims: defeating Trump at the ballot box in 2020, which they consider accomplished, and ensuring Trumpism failed alongside him. The group describes itself as pro-democracy above all else, with members now drawn from across the political spectrum.

Social media influencer reacts to Trump’s Marine One footage as followers remain divided despite clarification

Commentator and social media influencer Harry Sisson took to X to share his thoughts on the viral clip. He didn’t hold back.

“This is really concerning. Yesterday, Trump stopped walking and started waving at nobody as he was boarding Marine One. The camera zooms out and shows nobody is there. His mental decline is getting worse,” shared Sisson.

That being said, the comments section beneath his post told a slightly different story. Not everyone who watched the footage arrived at the same conclusion as the influencer.

“Look again at the video, pause it and rewind, people could be seen on that mezzanine, maybe they were waving to him, maybe there was a military member that saluted from afar. I’m not a fan but I try to be intellectually honest,” shared one user.

Some of the commenters, however, did find themselves in agreement with Sisson’s take on the commander-in-chief’s behavior near the helicopter.

“And he is still running the country. Wake up America,” shared another user.

One commenter took a lighter approach to the footage of the Republican leader altogether, simply asking,

“Did he salute the helicopter?”

(The opinions expressed above by Harry Sisson and individual social media users are their own and have been included for the purposes of accurate reporting. The publication does not endorse or validate these claims.)

This was not the first time a confusing video of the president went viral

As per a report shared by The New Republic, back in October 2025, during an official welcoming ceremony at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, the president walked ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, leaving her trailing behind him. A guard stepped in and redirected him toward the dais.

Neither the president nor the White House issued a formal response directly addressing that particular video at the time. That being said, in January 2026, the president opened up to The Wall Street Journal, defending his energy and health. He also disclosed during the interview that he had undergone a CT scan, not an MRI, during an October 2025 visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

His physician, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, addressed the procedure in a White House statement at the time.

“President Trump agreed to meet with the staff and soldiers at Walter Reed Medical Hospital in October. In order to make the most of the President’s time at the hospital, we recommended he undergo another routine physical evaluation to ensure continued optimal health,” Barbabella said.

Barbabella confirmed the results showed no cause for concern, adding that the scan was carried out “to definitively rule out any cardiovascular issues” and returned “perfectly normal” with “absolutely no abnormalities.”

Then-White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also weighed in at the time, stating that the president’s doctors had “always maintained the President received advanced imaging,” noting that further details had been disclosed by the president himself because he “has nothing to hide.”

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The president shared his own candid thoughts on the decision in the Wall Street Journal interview.

“In retrospect, it’s too bad I took it because it gave them a little ammunition. I would have been a lot better off if they didn’t, because the fact that I took it said, ‘Oh gee, is something wrong?’ Well, nothing’s wrong,” he shared.

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