Did Joe Biden pull a Gerald Ford moment just as predicted? Internet compares him to 38th POTUS for stumbling down

After Joe Biden's shocking fall on the stairs of Air Force One, not once but three times generated concerns about the oldest US president's health, internet users have now started comparing him to Gerald Ford, the 38th President of the United States. The comparisons surfaced after social media users found a 1975 video of former president falling down the steps of an airplane while walking with his wife Betty Ford. 

While Republicans took this opportunity to question Biden's capability for presidential duty, Biden supporters have defended his setback as a trivial occurrence that happens to everyone. Some even recalled the instance when former President Donald Trump boarded the Air Force One with toilet paper stuck to his shoe. 

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Why is Biden being compared to Gerald Ford?

In June 1975, the then US President Gerald Ford fell down the steps of an airplane upon his arrival in Austria. An archival video of the incident shows him holding an umbrella over First Lady Betty Ford as the couple was climbing down the flight steps. At the last few steps, the Republican president stumbled and fell down the stairs to the ground, as his aides and security officials came rushing to help him up. Ford was 62 at the time.

The incident soon made him the center of jokes back then, as Chevy Chase famously mimicked him on 'Saturday Night Live' sketches.

Now, 78-year-old Joe Biden seems to have suffered from a similar snag, thus stirring up the comparison with Ford. "President Gerald Ford 2.0," remarked one user, while another said, "I thought it was Biden's Gerald Ford moment, with more to come!" One user's branded the unfortunate occurrence as 'Curse of Gerald Ford.'

Are you 'old enough' to remember Gerald Ford's fall?

As it appears, Joe Biden had tripped before also while climbing the stairs up to Air Force One. A video clip from February 9, 2021, shows a similar slipup. Uncannily, one Twitter user predicted about his 'Gerald Ford moment, saying, "Still waiting for that Gerald Ford moment... its gonna happen."

However, a section of the users today decided to compare him with Ford's incident simply to point out how the mishap is common and trivial. 

"Gerald Ford constantly tripped on steps. Trump could barely walk in a straight line because of his conspicuous neurological issues and also tripped on steps when he wasn’t walking down a ramp like a 95-year-old man with someone aiding him. Who f**king cares," wrote one user.
Another recalled, "I'm old enough to remember how Gerald Ford was treated for being clumsy."

"Gerald Ford slipped down the lot and Obama fell 6 steps too. Leave him alone!!!!!," one user said, while another user added, "OK. So what. He tripped. It happens to people. Gerald Ford."

A few Twitter users also used the Ford-Biden comparison trend to jog their memories and assert that they are "old enough" to have lived through Ford's presidency. "I'm old enough to remember Gerald Ford falling. Glad there wasn't social media then," wrote one. "For those of us old enough to remember President Gerald Ford doing this, and all of the mileage the Left back then got with it, this Republican still feels genuine sympathy for President Biden. It hurts to trip, and I hope he is all right," a Republican supporter sympathized.