Joe Biden’s supporters defied fate when they claimed he hadn’t been wrong in his first two months in office.
The president of the United States managed to fall not once, not twice, but three times on his way up a ladder to Air Force One’s presidential plane on Friday.
A White House spokesman blamed the strong wind.
The triple stumbling block came when Biden, 78, the oldest person ever elected president of the United States, was leaving for Atlanta from Andrews Joint Base in Maryland.
About halfway down the red carpeted staircase, Biden could be seen losing his balance before stumbling three times, ending up on his left knee while still holding the railing with his right hand.
The president got up, rubbed his left knee and climbed the rest of the stairs before turning and greeting the US Marines who took him by helicopter from the White House to the airport.
The authorities insisted that there was no damage. Karine Jean-Pierre, the deputy press secretary for the White House, told Air Force One reporters: “It is very windy. I almost fell up the steps. He’s 100% fine. “
Asked if the president was examined by a doctor, Jean-Pierre said only: “I just – all I know is – I can say that he is fine. He’s doing great. “
The incident recalled concerns last November, when Biden fractured his foot after slipping while playing with his pet dog, a German shepherd named Major.
His notorious verbal gaffes – this week he accidentally referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “President Harris” – were also taken advantage of by conservatives as evidence of age-related decline.
Donald Trump Jr, son of the former president, sarcastically tweeted on Biden’s downfall: “Pay no attention to the fact that the President of the United States is so fragile that he has been knocked down repeatedly by a gust of wind. Nothing to see here, guys! “
Trump Jr too tweeted a spoof video where his father hits a golf ball that flies through the air and hits Biden on the head, knocking him over. “It wasn’t the wind, folks,” he added.
But Biden is not alone in suffering the dangers of having TV cameras watching his every move. Mike Pence, the former vice president, tripped up the stairs for Air Force Two last June.
That same month, Donald Trump cautiously walked down a ramp at the United States Military Academy at West Point, later explaining that he knew a fall would be exploited by the media he watched.
Jeffrey Wright, an actor and activist, tweeted: “I don’t care if Joe Biden stumbles down the stairs of Air Force One drunk after an entire night, as long as he keeps hitting Covid with this vaccine launch.”