President Joe Biden, at the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation in Colorado Springs, Colo., tripped and fell to the stage today, where he had to be lifted to his feet by three Air Force officials nearby.
Biden has had other trips, at times on the stairs up to Air Force One, and once when he tipped over on his bike, but none has been as public or as spectacular as this one.
The president shook it off, pointed at a black sandbag on the stage that had been in his way, and stayed through the end of the graduation ceremony.
Biden is 80 years old and would be 82 at the start of his second term in January of 2025. In 2020, he set a record for the oldest person to ever be sworn in as president.
In 2020, when Donald Trump was running for his second term, the mainstream media wrote extensively with great speculation about the 74-year-old president’s careful gait as he descended a ramp from an aircraft, and the New York Times wrote with glee that he had difficulty lifting a glass of water to his mouth during a speech at West Point.
But for Biden’s fall today, the New York Times played down the incident. The newspaper quoted White House Communications Director Ben LaBold saying, “He’s fine. There was a sandbag on stage while he was shaking hands.”
In fact, Biden had shaken the hand of a graduate, who then walked off the stage, and moments later Biden simply tripped on a sandbag near his feet as he was preparing to walk away.
