Video footage has emerged of 79-year-old Donald Trump cautiously approaching a short flight of steps before slowly descending them.
The president was filmed by one of his aides, Margo Martin, gingerly walking up to the four steps at the end of his surprise tour of Elvis Presley’s Graceland on Monday.
The brief footage, which Martin shared as an Instagram Story, shows Trump appearing uneasy as he approaches the steps, as well as after he reaches the ground.
“It’s great, it’s a part of history,” Trump told reporters about his trip to the Graceland museum, a major tourist attraction in Memphis. “Elvis is a part of history, and I think it was great, really nice.”
Trump’s apparent frailty and health issues have been closely documented by the Daily Beast, including his visible trepidation while descending the stairs of Air Force One or the Marine One helicopter.
Earlier this month, Trump lamented how easily his old nemesis Barack Obama managed to walk down stairs when he was president.
“The only thing I admired about Barack Hussein Obama—which was nothing actually,” Trump told supporters at a rally in Kentucky. “But the only thing is the way he was bopping down the stairs. You talk about unpresidential. He’d bop—and I couldn’t believe that he made it without at least a noticeable major fall.”
During a rambling speech in front of military leaders last September, Trump admitted that he needs to be extra careful whenever he walks down stairs to avoid comparisons with his 83-year-old predecessor, Joe Biden, whom he has repeatedly mocked for struggling with stairs.
“I’m very careful. You know, when I walk downstairs—like I’m on stairs like these stairs—I walk very slowly. Nobody has to set a record. Just try not to fall because it doesn’t work out well,” Trump said. “Just walk nice and easy. You don’t have to set any record.”
Trump, who is on course to overtake Biden as the oldest sitting U.S. president in history, has also faced scrutiny over several other health-related issues.
This includes frequently appearing in public with mysterious bruises on his hands, which he has attempted to cover with mismatched makeup.
Trump has also sought to hide his swollen cankles from view, a symptom of the medical condition chronic venous insufficiency, which he reportedly treats with a daily aspirin regimen.
There have also been numerous instances of the 79-year-old appearing to fall asleep in public, as well as concerns raised about his apparent cognitive decline.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
“You must be f---ing blind or stupid, because that was a perfect walk,” said White House communications director Steven Cheung, whose foul-mouthed displays of loyalty Trump repaid recently by telling the world he takes “fat drugs.”
