Twitter Provides Further Proof That Joe Biden And Plane Stairs Don't Get Along
Just what is it about being POTUS that seems to make stairs so treacherous? Our U.S. president travels frequently while in office, often flying in the lauded Air Force One. Historically, domestic travel has increased over time with CBS Minnesota reporting that President Ronald Reagan made 175 domestic trips during his first term, and President George W. Bush made 391 trips during the same period of time years later. It's safe to assume many of those trips were made via plane. President Donald Trump frequent traveled on the campaign trail and to Trump-owned properties during his term as well, according to CREW.
Yet all this travel does not follow the adage of "practice makes perfect" as so many presidents seem to routinely be foiled by those pesky airplane stairs. President Gerald Ford tripped and fell in June of 1975 (via the AP). President Barack Obama was filmed barely averting disaster as he de-boarded his flight from Florida to Washington, D.C. in 2015 (via KlanKosava).
Few presidents seem to have quite the level of difficulty with stairs as President Joe Biden, who was caught stumbling again this week, according to the Independent. One Twitter user captioned a video of the slip, "Biden is categorically not friends with plane ladders." They weren't alone in weighing in, either.
Joe Biden is not winning against airplane stairs
The Twitterverse can't help but comment on the 46th president's epic stair fails. One of Joe Biden's critics, Greg Kelly, shared some "helpful" advice alongside a video of this recent misstep, "SLOW DOWN @JoeBiden or you're gonna go SPLAT next time!!!! Remember when u fell on ur a** 3 TIMES?!?!" Newsmax commentator Benny Johnson added, "The Air Force One stairs are UNDEFEATED against Joe Biden. Watch as he takes another trip down the stairs."
The New York Post noted that Biden also fell in May 2022. According to The U.S. Sun, Biden had previously fractured his foot while playing with his dog Major, which possibly contributed to a series of videotaped slips on March 19th.
While most tweets are rather negative in their perception of the president's coordination, at least one supporter offered an alternate theory. "Normal stairs we all are conditioned to negotiate by muscle memory," they wrote. "This is why there is a standard code in homes and buildings. I can see the airforce one stairs are on a different steeper angle. This could throw anyone off regardless of age."
While perhaps not specific to airplane stairs, in an ode to presidential klutziness, we'll hand out honorable mentions to President Donald Trump for his famed difficultly walking up platform stairs and down ramps and to President George W. Bush for falling off a curb.