Yesterday, President Joe Biden fell on stage shortly after speaking at the Air Force Academy for the commencement ceremony. As could be predicted, both DeSantis and Trump reacted to the video and took the opportunity to get a jab in against Biden.
DeSantis, for his part, decided to critique Biden’s handling of America rather than mock him for falling down, saying that he doesn’t know if Biden suffered any injuries from the fall, but if Biden was hurt then he hopes Biden has a “swift recovery.” He then went on to say that he hopes the US has an equally swift recovery from Biden’s mishandling of it. Watch that here:
That was something of a missed opportunity for DeSantis, as hoping for a swift recovery is a mostly passive enterprise, and so DeSantis didn’t say that he’d step in to fix the issues.
Trump also said he hoped Biden wasn’t hurt and then used the opportunity presented by Biden’s fall to point out the media’s hypocrisy in its coverage of him, as he was viciously attacked for carefully walking down a ramp that he claimed at the time was slippery and wet.
“Well, I hope he wasn’t hurt,” Trump said during his Iowa rally on Thursday when told that Biden fell down on stage. Then, introducing his grievance against the media, he said, “You gotta be careful about that because you don’t want that, even if you have to tiptoe down the ramp.”
He then defended his slow walk down the ramp, saying it was “like an ice-skating rink” because of the cold and wind. In his words: “That was the best speech I think I’ve ever made, and it was pouring rain and it was horrible and cold and windy. And they have a ramp that was pure like an ice-skating rink, and it was like 25 feet long.”
Continuing, he said, “I’m talking to the general. He has boots on, you know big combat boots and their rubber soles. I have nice, leather [shoes], and I say, ‘You know what general, get ready. If I grab you, you just get ready cause I have this stupid ramp that somebody put up.’” “They never covered my speech,” Trump then said.
Then, turning from himself to get a jab in at Biden, Trump said “That’s too bad. That’s a bad place to fall. … That’s not inspiring.” Watch him here:
As with DeSantis, the response might have been a missed opportunity for Trump, who could have used his humor to mock Biden for being a frail and wobbly old man instead of bemoaning the far-left media for being far-left. However, his holding back from mocking Biden might have been an attempt to win back voters, particularly suburban women, who dislike Trump for what they think is his “cruel” sense of humor and frequent mockery of anyone and everyone who gets in his way.
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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