By now, most Americans have probably heard that President Joe Biden fell off his bike in Delaware on Saturday. However, many may have forgotten what he said about Trump’s physical health just a short time ago.
In September 2020, in response to questions about his own health during the presidential campaign, Biden poked fun at Trump for walking slowly down a ramp.
“Look at how he steps and look how I step,” Biden said. “Watch how I run up ramps and he stumbles down ramps, OK? Come on.”
Biden to @abc27News on Trump and his campaign’s suggestion he’s “lost a step”
“Look at how [Trump] steps and look at how I step. Watch how I run up ramps and how he stumbles down ramps, okay?” pic.twitter.com/7eJdXm0DKn
— Johnny Verhovek (@JTHVerhovek) September 7, 2020
Biden was referring to a video from June 2020 in which Trump walked slowly down a ramp after a speech at the United States Military Academy West Point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTvuVxUmnZ4
Trump later explained the video in a Twitter post, according to Business Insider. (Trump’s actual Twitter account has been suspended permanently.)
“The ramp that I descended after my West Point Commencement speech was very long & steep, had no handrail and, most importantly, was very slippery,” he wrote. “The last thing I was going to do is ‘fall’ for the Fake News to have fun with. Final ten feet I ran down to level ground. Momentum!”
Compare that non-event to Biden’s tumble on Saturday.
BREAKING: Another angle showing Joe Biden collapsing while riding his bike
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) June 18, 2022
Biden came to a complete stop, and then he proceeded to fall over unexpectedly. That does not inspire confidence in his physical health.
A White House official issued a statement after the fall assuring Americans Biden was perfectly fine, and it also included an excuse of sorts for Biden’s stumble.
“As the President said, his foot got caught on the pedal while dismounting and he is fine. No medical attention is needed. The President looks forward to spending the rest of the day with his family,” the statement said according to CNN.
There are two basic problems with the assumption that this statement will somehow calm the fears of Americans who have seen Biden’s tumble.
First, while it is good news Biden was not seriously injured during the fall, that is not the concern many people have been expressing. Instead, the main question is why the president is shaky enough to have fallen in the first place.
Second, while the White House official tried to answer this question, the statement did not provide compelling reasoning.
Are you concerned about Biden’s physical health?
It may be true that Biden’s foot got stuck in the pedal, but someone who was physically healthy should have been able to steady himself and slowly remove his foot without falling over. Instead, Biden toppled to the ground even after slowing to a stop.
By attacking Trump’s physical health during the campaign, Biden opened himself up to criticism about his own physical health. By any metric imaginable, his stumble on Saturday was significantly worse than Trump slowly walking down a ramp.
