In a moment rich with irony and short on balance, Donald Trump stumbled on the steps of Air Force One this past Sunday, a physical misstep made far more noticeable by his past mockery of President Joe Biden for doing the same thing.
Clutching the handrail, Trump caught the edge of a step with his left foot as he ascended the aircraft, nearly planting face-first before catching himself with a hand on the stairs. He quickly regained composure and continued to the top, but not before the cameras had captured every awkward frame, both in video and in still photography.
President Trump stumbles while attempting to board Air Force One pic.twitter.com/HRxGMDSP1h
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 8, 2025
Presidential stumbles are nothing new. Presidents Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, and Gerald Ford all had their own run-ins with gravity, and Biden’s well-documented trip-and-slip episodes became fodder for late-night comedy and partisan media alike. But none leaned in harder on the ridicule than Trump, who once scoffed, “Joe Biden can’t even walk up a flight of stairs on Air Force One,” during a 2023 campaign stop. He went on to call the smaller, lower staircase Biden uses “the children’s stairs,” as if opting for safety were a character flaw.
Former President Donald Trump stumbled on Sunday while boarding Air Force One at Morristown Municipal Airport in New Jersey as he prepared to depart for Camp David. | ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
Sunday’s stumble adds a new twist to Trump’s narrative of invincibility. For someone who has built a brand on dominance and strength, the brief yet very public moment of unsteadiness illustrates a basic truth: no one is immune to the occasional misstep, not even a fat old man who prides himself on mocking others for theirs.
The incident may have been minor, but politically, it opens the door to the same scrutiny Trump once gleefully directed at his opponents. After all, if Biden’s slip was a sign of weakness, what does it say about the Donald when he almost falls down a flight of stairs?
The truth, of course, is that stumbles happen, especially to older men in suits climbing steep stairs in front of a national audience. But when mockery comes full circle, it’s hard not to see the stumble as symbolic: a man tripping on the very platform he built to ridicule someone else.
As the 2024 election fades into the rearview mirror, this brief lapse in footing may be forgotten by most, but it serves as a cautionary step for Trump and others: when you spend years making fun of someone else’s fall, make sure your own laces are tied.