It was hard to miss a video of President Joe Biden’s less-than-graceful entrance into Air Force One on Friday, March 19. Although presenting a slightly humorous sight, Biden quickly recovered but couldn’t escape the social media onslaught. Past presidents have had embarrassing moments, like President Gerald Ford slipping down the very same steps in 1975, earning him the media label of klutz. Remember President Donald Trump awkwardly handling a drink of water and his stilted ramp walk at West Point, and President Bill Clinton’s notorious penchant for catching shut-eye on camera during speeches?
Although these funny moments in American history were once simply an occasion to snicker, social media have turned them into something much more sinister. Many conservatives chortled about Biden’s fall, while woke progressives and their media allies — suddenly demanding dignity and respect toward the president regardless of party — lambasted anyone daring to make fun. Unfortunately, thanks to the internet, the left’s hypocrisy is available for all to see.
The only reason Republicans on Twitter even paid attention to Biden’s slip and fall is the unwarranted accusations leveled by the left against Trump about his physical and mental impairments in similar circumstances. In June 2020, the trending media story was President Trump’s slow descent from a ramp after his commencement speech at West Point on June 13. Front-page articles from such media outlets as The New York Times, Associated Press, The Atlantic, CNN, and Politico began absurdly speculating that the president was suffering from a neurological condition. The Times even fact-checked the slipperiness and angle of the ramp to give credibility to their reporting.
When sensible people spoke out against such ridiculous media claims about Trump and his mental or physical problem, the Twitter echo chamber silenced them. Now that the tables have turned, and a Democratic president has shown what some call lapses in mental acuity and is being scrutinized the same way Trump was, conservatives have suddenly become the disrespectful group. Influential voices on Twitter immediately began calling out the double standard coming from the media and blue checkmarks on Twitter, silencing most mainstream media outlets who could not find a way out of the situation with fact-checking or other lame excuses.
Such events show how important it is to hold on to receipts from the past, especially regarding media behavior. As American media continue to lament over being supplanted by non-traditional news sources, this should serve as a lesson to journalists who believe earlier unprofessional improprieties will not be resurrected to harm their reputations in the future. Americans should wish the best for their president, but snarky banter is not the hate speech or spiteful partisan rhetoric that the media and their progressive allies make it out to be.
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