Last Updated on March 19, 2021
When President Trump walked slowly down a ramp last year, the media frenziedly questioned his health, yet the same outlets are silent on Biden’s fall this morning.
As National File reported, Joe Biden fell this morning while walking up stairs to enter Air Force One. Multiple photos captured the moment the 78-year-old American president lost his footing and fell about halfway up the stairs. Video footage shows him flailing around as he attempts to gather himself.
Biden just stumbled and fell when walking up the stairs of Air Force One pic.twitter.com/wsCpwSz6P6
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) March 19, 2021
25th. pic.twitter.com/jvIJHlEMre
— Raheem Kassam (@RaheemKassam) March 19, 2021
The mainstream media, known for recent fawning coverage of Joe Biden, including his “impressive” ability to play Mario Kart, has not made any comments remarking on his health following his stumble, but in June last year, these same outlets were quick to repeatedly question the health of President Trump, when he dared to walk slowly down a ramp at West Point to avoid slipping.
Headlines ranged from “Trump’s Halting Walk Down Ramp Raises New Questions” in the New York Times, to the Washington Post smugly labelling the incident as “Ramp-Gate,” to MSNBC claiming that President Trump had an “unsteady appearance,” and with CNN even asking if President Trump was “afraid of stairs.”
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) March 19, 2021
At the time, President Trump responded to the speculation regarding his health in a tweet. “The ramp that I descended after my West Point Commencement speech was very long & steep, had no handrail and, most importantly, was very slippery,” Trump tweeted. “The last thing I was going to do is ‘fall’ for the Fake News to have fun with. Final ten feet I ran down to level ground. Momentum!”
However, that of course wasn’t enough to stop the speculation. Commentators on mainstream media channels even denied that the ramp may have been slippery, with MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski claiming that “there is no indication that the ramp was slippery during a clear sunny day,” and going onto link the descent to the President “needing two hands” to drink water as another indication of “health concerns.”
Despite commentators such as Joe Scarborough and the AP’s Jonathan Lemire claiming that they should leave speculation on the President’s health “to the doctors,” they carried on regardless.
“Images like this and even his speaking ability or lack thereof, undercuts their argument that Biden is a doddering old man and that they should elect someone with more energy than Joe Biden,” said Scarborough. “Clip for clip, stumble for stumble, Donald Trump appears to be right in line with Joe Biden, or in many cases, even worse,” he added.
AP's Jonathan Lemire on Trump's ramp walk: "The matter of a President's health is of great importance to the American public…It is absolutely harder to make the case when we see video like this where" he's "having momentarily stumbles, momentary lapses, straining for a word" pic.twitter.com/VyuO29t3M3
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 19, 2021
“There are some questions this morning about President Trump’s health,” argued CNN’s Alisyn Camerota. “You see him walking very haltingly, one leg at a time,” she posited to the network’s chief medical correspondent, Dr Sanjay Gupta. “President Trump is not known for being athletic, so maybe he just has a hard time going down a gently sloping ramp, but do you see something possibly neurological that could be throwing off his balance?”
CNN's Alisyn Camerota on Trump at West Point: "There are some questions this morning about President Trump's health…[M]aybe he just has a hard time going down a gently sloping ramp, but do you see something, possibly neurological that could be throwing off his balance?" pic.twitter.com/hz39lPESZ2
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 19, 2021
“Donald Trump is 74 years old [and]… we know so little about Donald Trump’s past medical history,” argued CNN’s Chris Cillizza. “We just have very little to go on, and when you have those two things, and you add it to the fact that Donald Trump… makes the mental and physical health of his Democrat opponents an issue… that’s when I think what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”
You bet CNN's Chris Cillizza was all up in arms over Trump's West Point visit, telling Brianna Keilar that it was a big deal and a big concern because "Trump is 74 years old" and "we know so little about" his "past medical history" pic.twitter.com/ZtIet6eaqH
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 19, 2021
