President Joe Biden appeared to trip or stumble as he walked up stairs to Air Force One, and the moment was captured on video, which you can watch below. Photos (above) also captured the moment that Biden fell.
Biden was walking up the stairs onto Air Force One when he fell three times in a row before getting up on his own and continuing onward. It’s not clear what caused Biden to stumble. The president is 78 years old, and Republicans have tried to make his age an issue through his presidency and, earlier, during the presidential campaign.
He managed to wave before entering the plane.
Here’s the video.
Allie Mannheimer, a journalist with Nexstar Nation, wrote, “President Biden stumbles boarding Air Force 1 on his way to Georgia, but regains his balance and finishes the walk up the stairs.” Biden was headed to Atlanta to offer support after the spa shootings there.
Here’s what you need to know:
The White House Declared That Biden Was ‘100% Fine’
President Biden stumbles boarding Air Force 1 on his way to Georgia, but regains his balance and finishes the walk up the stairs. #NexstarDC
According to CNN, a spokesperson for Biden declared that the president was “100% fine” after the stumble.
White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told CNN it was “very windy,” hence the presidential stumble.
“So, as you know, it’s pretty windy outside, it’s very windy. I almost fell coming up the steps myself,” told CNN. “He is doing 100% fine.”
She added, “He’s doing great. All I can tell you is he’s doing fine. He’s preparing for the trip today and he is doing just great.”
Biden Isn’t the First Politician to Trip or Walk Slowly Down a Ramp
FLASHBACK -> Biden mocks Trump’s ramp walk at West Point and claims he’s stronger: “Look at how he steps and look at how I step. Watch how I run up ramps and he stumbles down ramps. Come on.”
President Donald Trump infamously walked very slowly down a ramp at West Point. As the New York Post noted, Biden mocked Trump at the time.
“Look at how he steps and look at how I step,” Biden said in September 2020, according to The Post, which said Trump blamed the ramp for being slippery.
“Watch how I run up ramps and he stumbles down ramps. OK? Come on,” said Biden.
And, of course, most remember the ridicule heaped on President Gerald Ford. In fact, Ford also stumbled on his way up airplane steps – in 1975 – and he was mercilessly mocked for it. “While visiting Austria in 1975, the President’s bum knee gave way and he tumbled down the Air Force One stairs,” Time Magazine reported, noting that, even though Ford blamed a knee problem and had been a football star, that and another tumble cemented the caricature that he was a klutz. Some people made that comparison on Twitter.
“Gerald Ford was hounded for his entire presidency over less. And Ford didn’t reach Biden’s age until 1991,” read one tweet.
Others were begging SNL to take it on, like they did Ford.
@Snl the new Gerald Ford!
Others were just happy the president was OK, noting that falls can be dangerous for people his age. “Trump is gone new president in! I’m nothing to judge Biden but being 78 and falls from stairs kind of dangerous for his health!” wrote one Twitter user.
Donald Trump Jr. posted a video montage of his father golfing that cut to Biden falling. “It wasn’t the wind folks,” he wrote.
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