Tipsheet

Liberal Media Pulls the Trigger on This Reaction to Joe's Fall at the Air Force Academy

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  June 02, 2023 2:05 PM

President Joe Biden fell during the Air Force Academy's commencement yesterday. At 80, such a fall could've come with serious injuries. He's reportedly fine, but the focus has been shifted toward his ability to do the job. Collapses of this nature have been death knells for presidents or those running for the position. Hillary Clinton collapsed during a 9/11 memorial event in New York City in September 2016. Jimmy Carter collapsed while running, and photographers were there to capture both incidents. Biden collapsing on stage will happen again, especially if he must do multiple public events on the 2024 campaign trail. There's no more COVID pandemic; he must get out there and do the laborious work of national campaigning. The liberal media already pulled the trigger on one of their most well-known reactions to events that make Democrats look bad by claiming we're pouncing on the trip-up, ABC News especially (via Newsbusters): 


During ABC’s World News Tonight, White House correspondent Mary Bruce reassured viewers that Biden was fine after falling on his face. “The White House tonight says the President is doing fine and he certainly appeared that way when we saw him on camera shortly after that fall.” 

“He was able to get back up and was seen interacting with the crowd shortly after that fall,” Bruce added. 

Bruce then claimed Republicans were “pouncing” on Biden’s fall and bemoaned that the incident only reinforces voters’ well-reasoned distrust that Biden wasn’t capable of handling his job given his advanced age: “But given voters' concerns about the President's age, this is an image that his critics are already capitalizing on and pouncing on” 

[…] 

Yet Bruce wasn’t alone. Over on CBS Evening News, anchor Norah O’Donnell whined that Biden’s “fall has already become a talking point for Republicans running for the White House.” 

Serving as the unofficial Biden stenographer on NBC for the evening, Kristen Welker took to the airwaves on NBC Nightly News to fret that “this is not a helpful image for the White House,” before noting that a recent poll found that “more than 60 percent of Americans do not believe the 80-year-old President has the mental sharpness or physical health to serve effectively.”   

So, it's not really a Republican talking point—it's just something that annoys liberal newsrooms because we're right. Age has been an issue in elections since Reagan. Bob Dole was peppered about it during the 1996 election, and John McCain in 2008. Joe is 80; he falls and looks confused, staring into the abyss at public events. He's more of a steward of the White House than a president. And him falling at the Air Force Academy and elsewhere potentially as the campaign kicks into high gear will become more of a salient issue, one that should panic rank-and-file Democrats if it becomes more frequent. 

And this isn't Joe's first fall: