While we at the American Tribune have tried to keep up with President Biden’s stumbles, both of the physical and policy varieties, along with the verbal stumbles for which he is famous, some have unfortunately slipped by, such as the hilarious video of him trying to get off Marine One and banging his head on the helicopter. Another such missed video that has since resurfaced is of him slipping on the Air Force One stairs while in San Diego.
That incident occurred in the spring of 2023, when he traveled to San Diego, California, for, among other things, a meeting between him, Prime Minister Albanese of Australia, and Prime Minister Sunak of the United Kingdom. The three discussed the issue of Western involvement in the Pacific and alliance structures in the region.
But while that was the more important part of the trip, one of the more concerning parts of it came when he was walking down the steps of Air Force One and, right as he began his trip down the main staircase, this was before the short steps got brought up to help him not stumble, slipped and nearly fell down the staircase. Fortunately, he caught and steadied himself.
Conservative X personality Collin Rugg, known for posting videos that take off on the platform formerly known as Twitter, captioned the clip of the heart-pounding incident that he posted by saying, “America was about one inch from a President Kamala Harris after Biden stumbled on the top step of Air Force One during his visit to San Diego.”
Watch the video here:
That was the same speech in which the president managed to stumble over his words while speaking about nuclear submarines, a topic about which it is less than ideal to be unclear. Ironically, Biden’s slipped-up language about the nuclear subs came amidst his attempts to explicitly say that he was being clear about the submarine issue.
Those comments came as President Biden spoke alongside Prime Minister Albanese of Australia and Prime Minister Sunak of the United Kingdom about the Australia, U.S., and UK partnership called AUKUS. The submarine issue came up because Australia had decided to buy nuclear-powered submarines, highly useful in naval wars like might happen in the Pacific.
President Biden said, introducing the matter, “I’ve always said, when asked, the United States is a Pacific power because we’re on the Pacific Ocean. We are a Pacific power. The United States has safeguarded stability in the Indo-Pacific for decades to the enormous benefits of nations throughout the region, from ASEAN to Pacific Islanders to the People’s Republic of China.”
He continued, speaking positively about America’s involvement abroad, “In fact, our leadership in the Pacific has been a benefit to the entire world. We’ve kept the sea lanes and skies open and navigable for all. We’ve upheld basic rules of the road that fueled international commerce. And our partnerships have helped underwrite incredible growth and innovation.”
He then added, on much the same point but with an added dollop of speaking about “democracy,” “So, today, as we stand at the inflection point in history where the hard work of enhancing deterrence and promoting stability is going to affect the prospect of peace for decades to come, the United States can ask for no better partners in the Indo-Pacific, where so much of our shared future will be written. In forging this new partnership, we’re showing again how democracies can deliver our own security and prosperity — and not just for us but for the entire world.”
And, getting to the part where he stumbled over his words while speaking about nuclear subs, he said, “Today, we’re announcing the steps to carry out our first project under AUKUS: developing Australia’s conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarine capacity. And I want to be clear — I want to be clear to everyone from the outset, right off the bat, so there’s no confusion or misunderstanding on this critical point: These subs are powered — not nuclear-armed subs. They’re nuclear-powered, not nuclear-armed.”
Watch that here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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