At a conservative gathering in Arizona over the weekend, President-elect Donald Trump once again turned his well-documented discomfort with stairs into a spectacle. Speaking at AmFest, a far-right conference known for promoting Trump-aligned rhetoric, the president-elect opened his remarks by revisiting familiar themes and indulging in some trademark grievance politics.
“Nice to win the election and very nice to win,” Trump said before pivoting to his go-to cultural trope: the supposed war on Christmas. “And I want to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas. They don’t say that too much anymore.” It’s a line that’s become a staple in Trump’s appearances—a rallying cry that conflates holiday cheer with his broader narrative of victimhood and culture wars.
But then, things got stranger, as they often do with Trump. Reflecting on the smoke effects backstage, he joked, “And when I had all that smoke backstage, I said, ‘Hey, are there any steps in front of me?’ I don’t want to go. I go down. That would not be good.”
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If this sounds familiar, it’s because Trump’s aversion to stairs and ramps has been a topic of conversation before. Who could forget the moment at West Point in 2020, when his slow and deliberate descent down a ramp led to viral videos, late-night jokes, and speculation about his health? Rather than letting that moment fade, Trump has repeatedly brought it back into the spotlight, as if to prove he’s in on the joke—or perhaps to distract from it.
Trump had trouble walking down the ramp at the West Point grad ceremony. Balance & gait issues are part of his dementia symptoms. Bad planning here. His forward lean on a down slope w/ a normal sized step would make him fall over. To stay upright he had to take baby shuffle steps pic.twitter.com/skxlmFtgb7
— Tom Joseph (@TomJChicago) June 13, 2020
It’s worth noting that for a man so preoccupied with projecting strength, Trump’s continual references to moments of physical vulnerability seem… curious. Whether it’s a calculated move to preempt criticism or just another case of Trump fixating on himself, these moments are telling. They reflect his tendency to make even the smallest incidents about him and to turn any narrative—even those that could be unflattering—into a performance for his base.
Of course, the audience at AmFest ate it up. They laughed and cheered, as they always do. However, the broader question remains: Why does Trump keep returning to these moments? Is it just a quirk of his ego, or is it part of a deeper strategy to blur the lines between criticism and adoration, making even his detractors unwilling participants in his spectacle?
For Trump, these moments are less about the stairs and more about the stage—about keeping the spotlight firmly on him, no matter the cost or context. And as the political and media landscape grapples with his looming presence, it’s clear that even something as simple as a flight of stairs can become a tool in the Trumpian playbook.
Featured image via screengrab
