On Saturday, Donald Trump gave the commencement address at West Point, and when it was over, he slowly and carefully walked down a ramp from the stage. Many people instantly speculated about the situation, especially after the president used a second hand to help lift his water glass to his mouth during the speech. He took to Twitter to explain why his walk might have seemed slow and awkward, but his critics did not believe his explanation.
“The ramp that I descended after my West Point Commencement speech was very long & steep, had no handrail and, most importantly, was very slippery. The last thing I was going to do is ‘fall’ for the Fake News to have fun with. Final ten feet I ran down to level ground. Momentum!”
The president’s tweet received a lot of attention, with nearly 85,000 likes and almost 28,000 retweets on the popular social media platform. Plus, close to 40,000 users left a message, but many of his critics seemed less than convinced by his explanation, and they let him know about it.
Trump descended a ramp extremely carefully at the end of his West Point speech today pic.twitter.com/uMG3KyB1V1
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 13, 2020
One doctor named Eugene Gu, who regularly replies to POTUS’ tweets, took the opportunity to reprimand Trump. Gu called out the president for calling his opponents like Joe Biden names like “sleepy,” and he wondered if perhaps the presidency would be better served if Trump stopped doing things like that. He suggested that people in glass houses should not throw stones at others in similar situations. Gu also encouraged the president’s critics to be better than him and not stoop to the level of making fun of what seems like it could be a medical issue.
Of course, not everybody agreed with the doctor. A few users replied to the doctor to say that when it comes to Trump, they are not willing to be better people. Several Twitter users also pointed out that nobody but Trump appeared to struggle to walk down the ramp.
“Holy sh*t, where do we even start with this? The ramp was NOT steep. Trump’s security detail wouldn’t have allowed the ramp to remain wet. And if Trump was worried about not looking stupid on camera, why would he purposely waddle like a slow-motion duck? Donald Trump is not well,” declared the Palmer Report.
The video of the president’s descent showed the wind ruffling his hair as he slowly walked off the stage with an official walking near him, staying slightly behind. Trump took small steps and kept his head down while carefully navigating the situation. There was not a handrail to provide any assistance. Toward the end, he took a couple more substantial steps that seemed to have some bounce.