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Mark Meadows' viral photo of rubbing forehead during Trump health update reminds Internet of John Kelly

The picture was captured as Navy Cmdr. Sean Conley delivered the update to the media about Trump, who at the time was admitted at the Walter Reed after testing positive for COVID-19

A photo of President Donald Trump's Chief of Staff Mark Meadows rubbing his forehead during an update on the president’s health on Sunday, October 4, went viral after people realized that he didn't look that different from the photos captured of his predecessor John Kelly who had been seen in more than one occasion with his hand on his head during White House press conferences. 

The picture in question was captured by Reuters photographer Erin Scott as Navy Cmdr. Sean Conley delivered the update to the media about Trump, who at the time was admitted at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after testing positive for COVID-19 last week. The POTUS was discharged on Monday, October 5, from the facility. The picture was posted by Corrine Perkins, the North America editor for Reuters Pictures, with the caption that read, "White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows rubs his head as U.S. Navy Commander Dr. Sean Conley, the White House physician speaks to the media about President Donald Trump's health."

Soon the photo went viral with many people reacting to it. "Headache, is that one of the symptoms?" one commented, alluding to the symptoms of the novel coronavirus. "Trump must be critical and Meadows is thinking there’s no way out of this," a second person wrote. A third said, "That moment you realize they went with the plan you advised against that puts your earlier comments in stark contraction to what the white coat is saying on TV. You thought you’d work for Trump and not end up under a bus? That and resignation are the only exits." 

Someone else was concerned about Meadows possibly contracting the virus. "Yikes, I hope he hasn’t contracted COVID," the user remarked while another quipped, "Looks as if things are going well." A third likened Meadows' feeling to that of top infectious-disease expert Anthony Fauci who was appointed to the White House coronavirus task force against the virus. "Now he may know how Dr. Fauci felt watching those task force pressers," the user wrote. 

Others could not help but draw similarities between the reaction given by Meadows and the old pictures of Kelly with an exhausted and resigned look. Many of the Twitter users also drew memes of a side by side comparison. "Reminiscent of this..." one of the captions read, while another said, "He’s in good company."

"Remember that video of him standing behind trump at the UN, as trumps talking, and he’s looking up at the ceiling rolling his eyes visibly As he listens to trump’s speech? I’m never going to get that image out of my head," a person tweeted, while another said, "Amazing how all of the people around Trump eventually end up like this:" Another remarked, "John Kelly knows all to well." And someone else tweeted, "They all reach this point."

Meadows found himself in hot waters when he was identified as the source who told reporters on Saturday that Trump’s “vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning, and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care.” Trump was reportedly furious with Meadows after he contradicted Conley’s message during Saturday’s press conference which basically stated that the POTUS was “doing well” and “in exceptionally good spirits.”