SLIDIN’ BIDEN J’oh! falls on Air Force One
EDDIE SCARRY: MEDIA MUM ON PREZ STUMBLES
President Biden tripped multiple times up the steps of Air Force One yesterday, which the White House blamed on a windy day. Columnist Eddie Scarry notes it’s just the latest physical or mental fall for the president.
THE national media were ready to have a 25th Amendment party when a sloppy book by Michael Wolff came out with a bunch of ditzy rumors about President Trump’s mental acuity.
By contrast, we just watched the current president literally collapse and there’s not a peep of concern from the press.
Joe Biden on Friday was climbing up to board Air Force One when, even with his hand on the rail for support, he tripped over one of the steps. He pushed himself up only to see the same thing happen a second time. Finally, gravity got the best of his 78-yearold ankles and he fell to his knees.
Biden eventually got up and made the rest of the journey to the cabin, but are we all going to pretend that we weren’t feeling the urge to rush to his side like a Boy Scout offering his arm to an elderly woman crossing the street?
Aides were quick to let us know that everything is fine. Relax!
White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said Biden “did not even require any attention from the medical team.”
He didn’t even need a doctor. That’s how strong Biden is.
One of Biden’s press secretaries was sure to tell reporters that it was very windy outside during Biden’s adventure up the steps.
Is no one in the major news media concerned?
It would be easier to overlook the incident if it didn’t come in addition to a slew of other episodes with Biden. On Thursday, he referred to VP Kamala Harris as “President Harris.” Back in December, before he was sworn in as the real president, Biden called Harris “president-elect.”
In a recent speech, apparently having forgotten the name of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Biden called him, “My . . . The guy who runs that outfit over there.”
Lord knows what would have happened at CNN had Trump referred to any federal department as “that outfit over there.”
Dementia! Cognitive decline! And that would only be between breathless denunciations by Jake Tapper of Trump being racist for referring to a black four-star Army general as “the guy.”
Biden slogged his way through another recent speech promoting his COVID relief package. “The vast majority of economists,” he said, “left, right and center, from Wall Street to the . . . to the . . . private . . . uh . . . economic polling initiatives . . . the economists, as I say, left, right and center, say, in addition to the needs that the people have, we need this to grow the economy.”
Even the way Biden moves physically is remarkable. A wave of his hand or a gesture toward someone nearby is done with the speed of a particularly slow yoga stretch.
Once upon a time, the press cared about the physical and mental fitness of a president.
Recall that an entire news cycle was made out of a video that showed Trump walking slowly down an outdoor backstage ramp.
Here’s The New York Times headline that came out of that: “Trump’s Halting Walk Down Ramp Raises New Health Questions.”
And here’s the paper’s headline after Biden ate it on the steps: “Biden is ‘doing 100 percent fine’ after tripping while boarding Air Force One.”
Nothing to see here, folks!