(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) Seconds after handing out the final diploma at the United States Air Force Academy’s graduation ceremony in Colorado Springs on Thursday, President Joe Biden took a nasty onstage nosedive, reportedly tripping over a sandbag.
The fall was not a unique event for Biden, who has stumbled several times on the stairs of Air Force One and also toppled during a bike ride near his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Yet, the episode called to mind the over-the-top reaction from mainstream media in 2020 after then-President Donald Trump gingerly walked down a ramp during the U.S. Military Academy graduation ceremony in West Point, N.Y.
Trump said his shoes would have slid down the wet ramp if he had not sought assistance with the walk.
“The ramp that I descended after my West Point Commencement speech was very long & steep, had no handrail and, most importantly, was very slippery,” he wrote on Twitter.
“The last thing I was going to do is ‘fall’ for the Fake News to have fun with,” he added. “Final ten feet I ran down to level ground. Momentum!”
Nonetheless, the New York Times and others concocted a ludicrous story that Trump’s walk and his delicacy in drinking a glass of water were ominous signs that the then-74-year-old was unfit to serve as president.
“There was no evidence that the ramp was slippery, and the skies were clear during the ceremony,” wrote breathless Times reporter Maggie Haberman.
“The videos again raised questions about the health of Mr. Trump, whose advisers have never fully explained his abrupt visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in November, saying at the time only that it was intended to get a jump on his annual physical,” she added.
Media seemed far less interested in broaching questions about whether Biden, 80, might be unfit to serve based on his long history of both mental and physical blunders over a nearly 30-month span as president.
But his latest mishap is unlikely to assuage concerned voters who suspect Democrats have either been in denial or actively gaslighting the public about the president’s condition and his prospects of enduring a second term if re-elected.
At least one conservative commentator, Dave Rubin, appeared to put his finger on the fear that was on everyone’s lips.
President Kamala Harris could happen at literally any second.
🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠 https://t.co/L4ZqXpZgat
— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) June 1, 2023
Meanwhile, according to some preliminary reports, Thursday’s tumble appeared to elicit cheers from members of the audience and graduating class.
Everyone cheers after President Joseph Biden falls at graduation ceremony?!! It is clear that he believes he was tripped by something as he points to it at the end. People fall, laptops are left behind … life goes on. pic.twitter.com/GxywCW6BkS
— JacobIsrael71 (@JacobIsrael71) June 1, 2023
Other Twitter users pointed to the bemused looks on the cadets’ faces—although it was unclear from the context that their expressions were related to Biden’s misfortune.
The cadets behind him pic.twitter.com/bmSQldWrCX
— Karen McCaffrey (@KarenMc36110440) June 1, 2023
Some couldn’t resist the opportunity to poke fun at the situation—and, in at least one case, its ironic timing on the first day of LGBT “Pride” month.
Pride comes before a fall… https://t.co/Eqsf2fEhCF pic.twitter.com/mkW4xCDNIZ
— Ben Harris-Quinney (@B_HQ) June 1, 2023
Ben Sellers is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/realbensellers.
