President Donald Trump has made a rare admission about one of the potential dangers of his job: falling down stairs.
In a meandering speech to top military leaders on Tuesday, the 79-year-old president acknowledged he has to be very careful when descending stairs to avoid the perils of his predecessor, Joe Biden.
“Every day, the guy’s falling down stairs,” Trump told the military brass who had been summoned to the Marine Corps base in Quantico to hear him speak alongside Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth.
“I’m very careful. You know, when I walk downstairs—like I’m on stairs like these stairs—I walk very slowly. Nobody has to set a record. Just try not to fall because it doesn’t work out well… Just walk nice and easy. You don’t have to set any record.”
The president’s comments formed part of an hour-long address that traversed topics such as his lethal strikes in the Caribbean Sea, his push to send troops to Democratic cities, and warnings that “America is under invasion from within.”
But his comments about gingerly walking down stairs was a rarity for the aging Commander in Chief, who was recently diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a condition where leg veins have difficulty sending blood back to the heart, leading to symptoms like swelling ankles.
The president has also suffered from bruising on his hand, which he tries to conceal with make-up. According to the White House, this bruising stems from constant handshaking, which is treated with Aspirin.
Walking down stairs became problematic for Biden during his term in office, placing America’s oldest president under constant scrutiny every time he would enter or exit Air Force One, or take the stage for an event.
By the time the 2024 election campaign kicked into gear, the Democrat stalwart had fallen so many times that he began wearing special shoes and was using a shorter staircase to board his plane.
By contrast, Trump said Barack Obama bounded down the stairs. But he still said he was a horrible president, in his opinion.
Trump, who would regularly mock Biden’s struggles, has had a few tumbles too.
In July, for instance, he was filmed losing his balance before quickly steadying himself as he boarded the jet to return to Washington, D.C., after a golfing weekend in New Jersey.
Footage showed the president looking stony-faced when he tripped, before he composed himself to smile and wave at the cameras from the top of the stairs.
His advice to generals on Tuesday?
“Be cool,” he said. “Be cool when you walk down, but don’t bop down the stairs.”
The post Trump, 79, Admits He Struggles Descending Stairs appeared first on The Daily Beast.
