The president’s claim that the ramp was “very slippery” was inconsistent with the weather, which on Saturday at the officer training academy in New York was sunny and clear-skied.
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — President Trump late Saturday tried to explain his slow and unsteady walk down a ramp at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, which had generated concern and mockery on social media, by claiming the walkway was “very slippery” and that he was worried about falling.The walk in question came at the conclusion of Saturday’s commencement exercises at West Point, where Trump was the guest speaker. As he exited the raised platform by descending a ramp alongside Lt. Gen.
was widely shared on social media, with critics of the president — including Republican operatives working on the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group whose ads have provoked the president’s ire — using the hashtag #TrumpIsNotWell in their tweets.The chatter seemed to get the attention of Trump, who is spending the weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. At 10:57 p.m.
Elements of Trump’s explanation strained credulity. Trump’s claim that the ramp had been “very slippery” was inconsistent with the weather, which on Saturday in West Point, N.Y., was sunny and clear-skied. The grass plain on which the commencement took place was dry. In addition, Trump wrote that he “ran down” the final stretch of the ramp. Video footage of the episode shows the president picking up his pace slightly for the final two steps, but that would hardly be considered a run or a jog by any standard definition.Once on flat ground, Trump appeared to walk normally as he surveyed the field and mingled with officers on his walk to board Marine One, which was parked roughly 100 yards or so from the platform stage.
The ramp video was not the only clip from Trump’s speech to generate considerable attention on social media. Another was when he briefly took a
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