According to a wild report from Axios published on Friday, April 26, President Joe Biden’s Administration has tried to block footage and pictures of his “halting and stiff gait” by surrounding him with aides as he walks to and from Marine One, the presidential helicopter, across the White House lawn. The move comes amidst concerns about the president’s age.
As background, though concerns about Biden’s age have been prominent since he announced his run, they increased in intensity following the report from Special Counsel Hur that indicated the elderly president’s age is something of a problem for him, particularly as regards his mental fitness for the job. At one point in that report, for instance, special counsel Hur said, “We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory . . . It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him—by then a former president well into his eighties of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”
Another part of it provided, “In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden’s memory was worse. He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended (“if it was 2013 – when did I stop being Vice President?”), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began (“in 2009, am I still Vice President?”), He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died. And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him. Among other things, he mistakenly said he “had a real difference” of opinion with General Karl Eikenberry, when, in fact, Eikenberry was an ally whom Mr. Biden cited approvingly in his Thanksgiving memo to President Obama. In a case where the government must prove that Mr. Biden knew he had possession of the classified Afghanistan documents after the vice presidency and chose to keep those documents, knowing he was violating the law, we expect that at trial, his attorneys would emphasize these limitations in his recall.”
In any case, the Axios report noted that President Biden mixed up his method of walking to Marine One. Instead of walking to and from the presidential helicopter by himself, as was generally the case until relatively recently, he now often makes the walk across the White House lawn while, as Axios noted, “surrounded by aides.”
According to Axios, that change in how the president transits the lawn is part of a move by the administration to block cameras from capturing photos or footage of his gait. “With aides walking between Biden and journalists’ camera position outside the White House, the visual effect is to draw less attention to the 81-year-old’s halting and stiff gait,” Axios reported.
Continuing, Axios noted that sources from inside the White House informed it that some within the Biden Administration were worried that his age was being highlighted by footage of him walking. “Some Biden advisers have told Axios they’re concerned that videos of Biden walking and shuffling alone — especially across the grass — have highlighted his age,” Axios reported.
Axios connected the use of aides as blockers to the “lifestyle sneakers” Biden has been wearing, apparently to help him maintain his balance and fall less. As background, when people found out Biden was wearing those sneakers, it took off on social media. For example, X account “Citizen Free Press,” wrote, “They put Biden in a chunky pair of “lifestyle sneakers” so he doesn’t trip as much,” while sharing a video from Inside Edition reporting on the shoes.
Similarly, RNC Research, an X account run by the Republican National Convention, posted, “Biden’s handlers are forcing him to wear a new pair of ‘lifestyle sneakers’ because he trips so much.” Comedian Tim Young echoed a similar sentiment writing, “Now they put Biden in “lifestyle sneakers” because he stumbles in dress shoes. Our enemies laugh at us.”
Watch footage of Biden wearing these shoes below:
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