WATCH: Trump Nearly Falls Off Platform While Taking Stage in New Hampshire — Or Did He?
President Donald Trump appeared to nearly fall off a platform as he took the stage in New Hampshire, in what may have been a joking pantomime on the heels of a Joe Biden ad highlighting Trump’s confrontation with a ramp earlier this year.
On Friday night, Trump exited Air Force One and crossed the tarmac in Manchester, New Hampshire to cheers from the mostly-unmasked throng of waiting supporters. But on his way up the stairs to the stage, he suddenly teetered on the landing as if he were about to fall, before apparently regaining his balance and offering a dismissive wave of his hand. It appeared to be a joking near-fall.
Moments later, he completed the apparent bit by remarking on the slipperiness of the floor. New York Times photographer Doug Mills captured the moment, and immediately pegged it as a joke.
.@realDonaldTrump jokes like he’s falling off the walkway as he arrives for a campaign rally in Londonderry, NH pic.twitter.com/dXqGYHrM7N
— Doug Mills (@dougmillsnyt) August 28, 2020
The maybe-pantomime fooled at least a few people, including reporters who tweeted the episode as an authentic near-accident. NBC News’ Shannon Pettypiece tweeted “Trump almost trips walking towards the stage in NH. Says ‘they put a floor in like an ice skating rink’.”
Trump almost trips walking towards the stage in NH. Says “they put a floor in like an ice skating rink”
— Shannon Pettypiece (@spettypi) August 28, 2020
The Daily News’ Chris Sommerfeldt also reported the incident as real peril, writing:
Trump almost just fell walking up a stair to get on stage at his campaign rally in New Hampshire.
He blamed the near-fall on the “floor.”
“Just like an ice-skating rink,” he tells the largely maskless crowd.
Trump almost just fell walking up a stair to get on stage at his campaign rally in New Hampshire.
He blamed the near-fall on the “floor.”
“Just like an ice-skating rink,” he tells the largely maskless crowd.
— Chris Sommerfeldt (@C_Sommerfeldt) August 28, 2020
The DNC War Room account tweeted the video and joked “Imagine if it had been a ramp.”
It was a joking reference to Trump’s pitched battle with a ramp at the West Point graduation in June.
The Trump campaign’s War Room account fired back “He did that as a joke.”
He did that as a joke. https://t.co/mgBnl5dhqW
— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) August 28, 2020
CBS News White House correspondent Paula Reid concurred, but snarked “this time, it was a joke,” i yet another reference to Trump’s Battle of the West Point Ramp.
I was not in NH, but my colleague @dougmillsnyt shot this photo and said, this time, it was a joke: https://t.co/0pQGlb2bqj
— Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCBS) August 29, 2020
The video certainly appears to back up the notion that this was a deliberate act on Trump’s part, but it came after former Vice President Joe Biden released a brutal ad mocking Trump over the Ramp-ocalypse that aired during Trump’s Republican National Convention.
It’s unclear what the purpose of the bit was, but it seems to have succeeded in reminding people of that incident, which clearly struck a nerve with Trump at the time.
Watch the clip above via NBC Maine.
