- President Biden traded in his chunkier Hoka sneakers for a dressier pair of shoes
- Biden is still using the short flight of stairs to enter Air Force One as his aides worry he will fall again
- The president left Washington DC on Tuesday for a campaign trip to the West
President Joe Biden nearly tripped as he boarded Air Force One on Tuesday as he left Washington DC for a campaign trip to the West.
The president was briefly caught walking up the shorter staircase he recently used to board the presidential plane at Joint Base Andrews.
A Secret Service agent and another assistant stood at the bottom of the stairs, blocking the entire view of his hesitant step as he grabbed the side railing.
President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, Tuesday, March 19, 2024, en route to Nevada
President Joe Biden walks out wearing a new pair of shoes to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House
The new shoes are dressier than his Hoka sneakers, but perhaps not as stable.
It came after Biden was seen at the White House on Tuesday wearing a new pair of smart black shoes with large rubber soles and significant treads, a departure from the chunky black sneakers he has worn on recent trips.
The president has been spotted wearing a pair of new high-end black Hoka sneakers several times in recent weeks.
The chunky all-black ‘Transport’ model sneakers have a wide chunky sole that provides comfort and stability and are hailed by the company as the ‘crossroads of lifestyle and performance’.
It was not immediately clear what the new, smarter, large-soled shoes are.
US President Joe Biden (R) waves as he leaves the White House in Washington, DC, USA, March 19, 2024
US President Joe Biden leaves the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 19, 2024
Biden has recently started wearing Hoka’s ‘lifestyle sneakers’, but is switching to more stylish dress shoes with a large sole
Biden is now using the shorter stairs in the lower part of the plane to board Air Force One, to reduce the chance of tripping on the longer and larger stairs leading to the top.
Despite the changes, however, the president is still seen as stumbling and stuck on the side rail.
Biden’s new shoes and his new stair-climbing protocols are part of an ongoing series of precautions by his aides to ensure he doesn’t fall again, which campaign advisers say would harm his reelection campaign.
A new Deseret/HarrisX poll released Monday shows that a third of American voters believe Biden, 81, does not have the “mental acuity” for a second term because of his age, including 22 percent of Democrats.