Biden Slips On Air Force One Stairs After Staff Try To Prevent Major Falls—As Gaffes Raise Concerns About His Age

September 26, Slipping On Steps Of Air Force One: Biden lost his footing for a moment while making his way down the stairs of Air Force One upon landing in Michigan, as his team takes steps to avoid major falls, according to Axios—Biden has reportedly been wearing tennis shoes more frequently, uses a shorter stairway to Air Force One and has been working on his balance with a physical therapist for the past two years.

September 11, Falsely Stating He Was In New York On Sept. 12, 2001: Biden told U.S. troops stationed in Alaska on during a 9/11 anniversary speech that he surveyed the damage from Ground Zero the day after the 2001 attacks, eight days before then-Sen. Biden actually visited Ground Zero on Sept. 20.

September 10, Getting Cut Off By White House Press Secretary: During a press conference in Hanoi, Biden was mid-sentence, giving a rambling answer to a reporter’s question, when White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told the media “thank you everybody, this ends the press conference” (Biden joked moments earlier “I don’t know about you, but I’m going to go to bed”).

September 5, Abruptly Leaving Medal of Honor Ceremony: After hanging a Medal of Honor around retired Army Capt. Larry Taylor’s neck for his service in the Vietnam War, Biden walked out of the East Room before the ceremony was over, prompting criticism about the awkward moment, which Jean-Pierre said was a Covid-19 precaution intended to limit Biden’s exposure.

August 9, Wrongly Stating He’s Declared Climate Change A National Emergency: Biden told Weather Channel reporter Stephanie Abrams “we’ve already done that” when she asked if he was ready to declare a national emergency, then clarified he meant he’s declared an emergency “in practice.”

July 14, Tripping On The Steps of Air Force One: Biden briefly lost his footing while walking up a set of stairs to board the presidential plane in Finland, then quickly recovered before waving to the crowd below from the entrance of the plane, following a two-day NATO meeting in Lithuania.

June 29, Walking Off MSNBC Set: Biden awkwardly rose from his chair and walked off the set of a live MSNBC interview with Nicole Wallace before she had the chance to close the segment.

June 27, Confusing Iraq and Ukraine: The president mixed up the countries in interviews twice in a matter of 24 hours: Speaking about NATO’s support for Ukraine, he referred to Russia’s attacks as an “onslaught on Iraq” at a fundraiser in Maryland, and a day later told reporters Putin is “clearly losing the war in Iraq”—not the first time the president has confused the two wars: in November, he blamed inflation on “a war in Iraq . . .excuse me, the war in Ukraine” he said during a speech in South Florida.

June 27, Calling Modi the leader of China: At the same June fundraiser in Maryland, Biden called Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the leader “of a little country that’s now the largest in the world, China,” before quickly correcting himself: “excuse me . . . India.”

June 16, Referencing royalty: Biden ended remarks in Connecticut about gun control with the phrase “God save the queen, man,” baffling his own White House deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton, who told reporters in an email she was unsure what the comment meant and that Biden was speaking to someone in the crowd.

June 8, Building an ocean railroad: The U.S. is planning “a railroad from the Pacific Ocean — from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Indian Ocean,” Biden said during a White House press conference with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, an apparent reference to a proposal to build a railroad in Sub-Saharan Africa that stretches to the Indian Ocean.

June 8, Botching Sunak’s title: Earlier during his visit with Sunak, Biden called him “president,” then corrected the error, joking, “I just promoted you.”

May 26, Misstating the number of granddaughters he has: Biden said he has four granddaughters, when really he has five, while hosting the NCAA championship-winning Louisiana State University women’s basketball team at the White House—drawing widespread criticism from columnists and pundits that the Biden family has failed to acknowledge his son Hunter Biden’s estranged 4-year-old daughter.

May 21, Calling the South Korean president the wrong name: Biden said during remarks at the G7 conference in Japan he has “spoken at length with President Loon of South Korea,” referring to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

May 18, Saying his son died in Iraq: Biden said his family lost his son Beau Biden, a former U.S. Army major who died of brain cancer in 2015, “in Iraq” during a trip to Japan—an error he also made in November during the same speech where he confused the wars in Iraq and Ukraine, telling the crowd, “I’m thinking about Iraq because that’s where my son died,” though later in the remarks he correctly stated the cause of his son’s death (Biden has said he believes toxic burn pits Beau Biden was exposed to while deployed in Iraq may have caused his cancer).

May 5, Promising a “major press conference”: While closing out a briefing with reporters on the economy, Biden foreshadowed a “major press conference” later that afternoon, which a spokesperson later clarified was intended as a reference to a pre-taped interview with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle.

April 12, Mislabeling New Zealand’s rugby team: Biden, during a visit to Ireland in April, called New Zealand’s All Blacks rugby team the “Black and Tans,” which is the name of British recruits to the Irish military in the 1920s: “he beat the hell out of the Black and Tans,” Biden said, referring to his distant cousin who played on the Irish rugby team that beat new Zealand in 2016.