A social media trend coincided with increased activity at pizza outlets surrounding the White House and the Pentagon roughly a week ago. It was no ordinary trend, though. On X, thousands of posts for multiple days carried the hashtag "Trump is dead", with many looking for confirmations on digital and TV media.
Around the same time, Pentagon Pizza Report (PPR), an account on X that keeps an eye on traffic at the eateries near the Oval Office and US military headquarters, indicated something was perhaps "cooking".
On August 31, the PPR stated that both Dominos located very close to the White House had above-average traffic for a Saturday at 8:33 pm ET.
Both Dominos locations located very close to the White House are reporting above average traffic for a Saturday at 8:33pm ET pic.twitter.com/kNSBDeeq19
— Pentagon Pizza Report (@PenPizzaReport) August 31, 2025
The same night, around 1:30 AM, the closest open Dominos and Papa Johns experienced above-average traffic, it said.
First time I've checked near SOUTHCOM - located in Doral, Florida (outside of Miami).
— Pentagon Pizza Report (@PenPizzaReport) August 31, 2025
The closest open Dominos and Papa Johns are both experiencing above average traffic.
As of 1:52am ET pic.twitter.com/CJ5iY7tniM
The activity continued on the nights of September 1 and 2 as well. In fact, at around 8 PM on Tuesday, the closest Domino's to the White House reported very high traffic, while the one closest to the Pentagon experienced above-average traffic.
The closest Dominos to the White House is reporting very high traffic.
— Pentagon Pizza Report (@PenPizzaReport) September 2, 2025
As of 8:09pm ET pic.twitter.com/t4gyddnHRW
"The 2nd closest Papa Johns to the Pentagon is reporting above average traffic," PPR said in a separate post.
The closest Dominos to the Pentagon is reporting above average traffic.
— Pentagon Pizza Report (@PenPizzaReport) September 2, 2025
The 2nd closest Papa Johns to the Pentagon is reporting above average traffic.
As of 10:08pm ET pic.twitter.com/azDVYQa88y
The "Trump is dead" trend on X came days after US Vice President Vance was asked if he was prepared to step into the role of commander in chief, should a "terrible tragedy" strike.
Vance said that while the 79-year-old was fit and energetic, unforeseen events could not be ruled out.
"He's the last person making phone calls at night, and he's the first person who wakes up and the first person making phone calls in the morning," Vance told USA Today.
"Yes, terrible tragedies happen. But I feel very confident the president of the United States is in good shape, is going to serve out the remainder of his term and do great things for the American people," he added.
"And if, God forbid, there's a terrible tragedy, I can't think of better on-the-job training than what I've gotten over the last 200 days."
The account Pentagon Pizza Report, which posts regularly on X, came into the spotlight back in June when Israel struck Iran.
“As of 6:59 pm ET nearly all pizza establishments nearby the Pentagon have experienced a HUGE surge in activity,” PPR posted on June 13. An hour later, Israel hit Iran, triggering a 12-day war, which ended after the US bombed Tehran's three nuclear facilities as part of its Operation Midnight Hammer.
Over the years, any enhanced activity at the eateries near the White House, Pentagon and the US Department of Defence has indicated that America is at work on something big. From Soviet operatives reporting pizza delivery activity in Washington to their bosses in Moscow during the Cold War to Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990, the sales at these outlets have caught attention.
The PPR, along with some of the other pages, used open-source intelligence (OSINT) tools, including Google Maps and real-time restaurant activity.
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