Throughout Joe Biden’s presidency, anytime he stumbled while getting onto or off a plane, his political enemies treated it as a sign of his apparent feebleness and infirmity. While running against Biden, Donald Trump often joined in the mockery himself.
And then, this weekend, Trump had a stumble of his own while getting on a plane. C-SPAN captured the initial video of the stumble, which occurred while the president was boarding the plane to travel to Camp David.
President Trump stumbles while attempting to board Air Force One pic.twitter.com/HRxGMDSP1h
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 8, 2025
According to HuffPost, “Trump was gripping the handrail when his left foot caught the edge of a step. He stumbled but steadied himself with a hand on the stair and quickly recovered as he proceeded to the top.”
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The report also noted that presidents slipping or nearly slipping on the stairs as they get onto their planes is far from a rare occurrence. Gerald Ford once did so, which formed much of the basis of Chevy Chase’s impression of him on Saturday Night Live — as did Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama.
Even Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a comparatively spry 54, nearly slipped while climbing up the same stairs the same day:
OMG! Marco Rubio just TRIPPED while walking up Air Force One immediately after Trump almost fell! According to MAGA logic, Rubio and Trump are mentally declining and need to be removed from office ASAP! pic.twitter.com/nY0yDMgLzS
— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) June 8, 2025
The Daily Beast seized the opportunity to tie the stumble to the president’s age, using the headline “Trump, 78, Stumbles Climbing Stairs to Air Force One.”
The president’s stumble led to some amused reactions, especially regarding how the president and his allies had long treated it whenever Biden suffered a similar near-fall.
BREAKING: Trump STUMBLES while climbing Air Force One. Remember how the media reacted when Biden did this? Make this video go viral. pic.twitter.com/pBi6Yt9ilO
— Trump Lie Tracker (Commentary) (@MAGALieTracker) June 8, 2025
FLASHBACK
Donald Trump: “Joe Biden can’t even walk up a flight of stairs on Air Force One…We have somebody that doesn’t have a clue representing us”
(2023) pic.twitter.com/UTs58icKFD— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) June 8, 2025
BREAKING NEWS: a clearly physically impaired Trump struggles to ascend Air Force One big stairs!
What are they hiding about the President’s health? https://t.co/vvLJvFDZUk
— Angry Staffer (@Angry_Staffer) June 8, 2025
🚨 BREAKING: DOWN GOES DONALD
Trump just stumbled and almost faceplanted boarding Air Force One. I’ve been telling you — he drags his legs and he’s clearly not well.
When Biden stumbled, the media lost its mind and Tapper wrote an entire fake “nonfiction” book.
Where are they… pic.twitter.com/MZlHfbfDUJ
— Chris D. Jackson (@ChrisDJackson) June 8, 2025
Photo courtesy of an X screenshot.
