Conspiracy theories have emerged that US president Donald Trump is being 'zapped awake' by an aide after he appeared to fall asleep live on TV in the Oval Office. During a press conference about childhood vaccinations, Trump slumped to one side with his eyes shut and mouth drooping.
Aide's hand on stomach sparks theory
Health secretary RFK Jr. was speaking at the time, and behind the pair stood Trump aide Jayme Leagh Franklin. The 27-year-old is a conservative media entrepreneur, commentator and former Trump administration official. Jayme was seen holding her hand over her stomach throughout the press conference, wearing a bright red scarf that disguised it somewhat.
Eagle-eyed viewers came to believe that whenever Jayme would “press” her stomach, Trump would jerk awake – leading some to theorise she had concealed a button underneath her top to “zap” him into consciousness for the assembled audience.
Theory goes viral on X
The theory went viral on X, with one user writing: “She’s called The Zapper. Presses zapper on her stomach and it zaps Sleepy Don awake.”
Someone else said: “Claims she has a button fitted on her belly, and when she gets the nod that he’s asleep she moves her hand and presses a button that wakes him. They’re calling her The Zapper. No idea if it’s true, but it appears to line up.”
Another X user tweeted: “Bro’s getting rebooted like a malfunctioning laptop!” A fourth penned: “The Zapper is really out here waking Sleepy Don up with a stomach zap!”
Vaccination remarks criticised
At the same meeting, Trump was accused of spreading “junk science” as he spoke about childhood vaccines, linking them with rising autism rates and insisting they should be spread out over five separate doctor visits.
He bizarrely claimed: “I’ve seen proof of where they have a vaccination thing that looks like the size of a bottle of soda, and [they] pour it into a little child’s body.”
