NOTE: This article is from the spring of 2023. However, with Biden’s mental and physical health back in the news and up to question now, in February and March of 2024, we think it’s worth exploring the incidents described in this article again as well, as they show that Biden has been struggling with the same sort of problems for awhile.
In March of 2023, Joe Biden was again fighting and losing his battles with the stairs of Air Force One, with an incident in Selma, Alabama, drawing a good bit of attention because of how obvious it was and because of how, at the time, it came in addition to other stumbles of his around the same time. A stumble in Poland was particularly problematic, as was his famous March of 2021 trip on the steps.
The March of 2023 incident occurred when Biden was departing from a quick stop to Selma, Alabama, commemorating the historic city’s Bloody Sunday march in 1965. At that march, civil rights protesters marching on the highway from Selma to Montgomery were badly beaten by state police troopers, with racial tensions and grievances boiling over into horrific bloodshed.
In any case, Biden’s trip came after the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. The President made several international and domestic trips since the infamous Ohio train derailment; he went to Europe as well as Virginia Beach and now Selma without a stop in East Palestine yet. Biden only finally visited East Palestine in May of 2024.
Shortly before that Selma incident, Biden was caught on camera losing to the stairs while departing from Poland. That incident occurred in late February of 2023 and was particularly concerning given the national concerns that led to his Poland visit, as having a president who was mentally and physically capable of handling them seems important, but was in doubt when he had trouble with the stairs.
Further, the twin incidents highlighted how odd it is that Biden continues to go up the stairs with which he obviously struggles alone. After all, it doesn’t seem like it would take much for him to fall backward rather than forward and really face some dire consequences. Even falling forward carries a lot of risks. So, even if a matter of pride, it is surprising the Secret Service hasn’t added an escort to keep him safe on the stairs.
Regardless, ere was Biden trying to leave Warsaw, Poland without incident:
In the first and most iconic trips, Joe Biden had barely been in office for two months when he stumbled climbing the steps to Air Force One in March of 2021. In this now-viral clip that produced endless mocking memes, Biden tripped, regained composure, and then tripped again as no doubt his handlers were panicked he might never make it to the top.
Here’s the fall that set the stage for all the others:
After this one happened, the White House was in full recovery mode. White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield tweeted that he was fine and didn’t even require medical attention. I guess we will have to take their word on it.
“I know folks have seen that President Biden slipped on his way up the stairs to AF1, but I’m happy to report that he is just fine and did not even require any attention from the medical team who travels with him. Nothing more than a misstep on the stairs,” Bedingfield tweeted shortly after the famous falls.
