Washington: US President Joe Biden, who has hit the headlines for confusing the names of foreign leaders amid concerns about his frailing memory, was caught in an embarrassing moment yet again when he almost tripped twice while boarding Air Force One. Several people mocked him on social media, with conservatives noting that the president is "falling apart in real-time", according to Fox News.
In a video that has gone viral on social media, Biden walked up to shorter, less challenging steps to board the plane after saluting US military personnel, when he stumbled and caught himself by gripping the handrail. He immediately stumbled on the next step, narrowly avoiding a fall. There have been a lot of concerns about Biden's mental acuity, and the video did nothing to ease those fears.
Biden has nearly stumbled up those steps multiple times over the years, a series of incidents that prompted his team to switch to employing shorter stairs last year for him to board the plane more easily. Last year, he was seen in a shocking fall during the US Air Force 2023 graduation ceremony.
Watch the video:
Netizens were quick to respond to Biden's embarrassing moment, as angry reactions filled social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter). "He'll need to start riding the conveyor belt into the baggage compartment soon. Just lay down, and zoooop, he's in," wrote one user, while another user suggested that he be carried out on a stretcher.
"I literally just ruptured my entire Achilles Tendon and can still walk up stairs better than this man," one user wrote, while another said, "We're probably a month or two from them rolling out a body double. If they haven't already." Another individual on X wrote, "This is as embarrassing as it is sad" while another person said, "This does not look good".
RNC Research, managed by the Republican National Committee, said, "A Secret Service agent is placed at the bottom of the stairs whenever Biden boards or disembarks to prevent this very scenario from happening. Biden is not well!"
Concerns over Biden's age and memory
Many have argued that Biden, who will be 82 weeks after this year's presidential elections, is unable to perform the duties of his job and is not fit to run for another term. A 388-page counsel report was released last week which described Biden as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory" while saying he mishandled classified documents on US foreign policy in Afghanistan when he was Vice President. Biden has fought back aggressively against the characterisation, describing his memory as "fine".
Republicans in the House of Representatives were quick to call the Democratic president "certainly unfit for the Oval Office". US special counsel Robert Hur's damaging report, stemming from a yearlong probe into Biden's mishandling of classified documents, said the President would face no charges partly because his defense would possibly be that "Mr Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
Some politicians have even called on Vice President Kamala Harris to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Biden from office. The 81-year-old president has raised concerns after a series of verbal mixups, at times confusing the names of world leaders during his tenure at the White House. A majority of Americans in most polls believe the president is too old to run for re-election. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that 78 per cent of respondents - including 71 per cent of Democrats - think Biden is too old to work in government.
Hours after the special counsel's report was released, Biden held a late-night, angry, emotional back-and-forth with reporters about his memory, which he said was "fine." During those remarks, he appeared to confuse the presidents of Mexico and Egypt. Biden decided to make the public remarks, the White House said.
The next day, Vice President Kamala Harris, White House spokesperson Ian Sams, who works with the White House counsel's office, and others denounced the report as wrong and politically motivated. Some in the president's party have lingering misgivings about Biden running for a second term, after which he will be 86, and the report may have only exacerbated those worries.
(with inputs from agencies)
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