It has become readily apparent to most that President Joe Biden’s physical health is in decline, evidenced in part by his increasingly stiff and shuffling gait when he walks.
That may well have resulted in President Biden suffering yet another fall while ascending the steps to board Air Force One, which was caught by cameras and has gone viral on social media, the Conservative Brief reported.
The stumble occurred Wednesday as President Biden was preparing to leave Poland and return to the United States following a visit to the Eastern European NATO ally that also included a secret surprise trip to neighboring Ukraine while he was in the region.
Biden falls up the stairs
According to Fox News, President Biden tripped and fell while going up the stairs to board Air Force One at the airport in Warsaw, Poland.
President Biden tripped on the stairs while boarding Air Force One for the journey back to the U.S. from Poland.
Luckily, he quickly got back up on his feet. pic.twitter.com/hg4HbauCzP
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) February 22, 2023
Biden did manage to catch himself and not tumble back down the steps, and once he managed to reach the top of the mobile staircase he turned and paused and waved at everybody before entering the presidential jet, per Fox News.
Not the first such incident
The New York Post reported that this incident was not the first time that President Biden has struggled with the stairs to board Air Force One, and noted at least three other occasions over the past two years in which he has fallen or nearly fallen on the apparently treacherous steps.
The first such occasion was in March 2021, when Biden tripped and fell twice while ascending the staircase for a flight to visit Georgia, though that was dismissed by the White House as being due to gusty winds.
The Post noted two other separate incidents that occurred in May and June of 2022 in which Biden stumbled on the stairs but caught himself before falling, the first while boarding a flight to Illinois and the second before a flight to Los Angeles, California for a major international summit.
Those stumbles and falls may be due to the president’s “stiff gait,” which White House Physician Kevin O’Connor recently attributed to “significant spinal arthritis, mild post-fracture foot arthritis, and a mild sensory peripheral neuropathy of the feet” in Biden’s annual physical exam, per the Post.
Somebody else fell down the stairs in Poland
Interestingly enough, President Biden is not the only one to stumble and fall on the stairs of Air Force One during that visit to Poland, as viral videos showed a member of his entourage also appeared to have fallen down the stairs while exiting the plane with other aides and staffers upon arrival in Warsaw just one day prior, according to Newsweek.
Who fell out of Air Force One in Poland? pic.twitter.com/hg9EdAY9R3
— @amuse (@amuse) February 21, 2023
There was some initial speculation that it may have been Biden who fell down the stairs in that earlier incident but that possibility was ultimately ruled out by other evidence.
This fall occurred on the rear set of steps with numerous other people around while other videos showed that Biden had exited the plane alone on the front set of stairs and descended the steps without any issues.
