OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
President Joe Biden took a nasty spill on his bike Saturday morning near his Delaware home as he was stopping to greet supporters.
Several angles of the fall were posted to social media in what looks like the president simply failing to adequately gain his footing as he stopped, perhaps even getting a foot tangled up in a pedal.
WATCH FROM SEVERAL ANGLES:
BREAKING: Joe Biden has COLLAPSED while riding his bike.
Biden was riding up to "supporters" at his beach town in Delaware and fell face first into the asphalt. pic.twitter.com/mie1plBs47
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) June 18, 2022
BREAKING: Another angle showing Joe Biden collapsing while riding his bike
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) June 18, 2022
Here’s another angle.
Brutal
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) June 18, 2022
The Associated Press reports:
President Joe Biden fell when he tried to get off his bike at the end of a ride Saturday at Cape Henlopen State Park near his beach home in Delaware, but said he wasn’t hurt.
“I’m good,” he told reporters after U.S. Secret Service Agents quickly helped him up. “I got my foot caught” in the toe cages.
Biden, 79, and first lady Jill Biden were wrapping up a morning ride when the president decided to pedal over to a crowd of well-wishers standing by the bike trail. Biden, who was wearing a helmet, tumbled when he tried to dismount, apparently falling on his right side and rolling on to his back before being helped up.
The president quickly collected himself and spent several minutes chatting with people who had gathered to watch him bike. Biden did not need medical attention and is “fine”, according to a White House statement.
It’s likely that Biden’s bike spill could reignite criticism about his overall health, especially his mental fitness.
Former White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson, now a GOP congressman from Texas, has been the most vocal. During a recent interview, Jackson said Biden needs to undergo an immediate cognitive exam because he is “not fit to be our president right now.”
“The whole country is seeing his mental cognitive issues on display for over a year now, and there’s really no question in most people’s minds that there’s something going on with him, that he’s not cognitively the same as he used to be and, in my mind, not fit to be our president right now,” Jackson said.
“Every time he gets up and talks to the American people, it’s not just the American people that are watching him speak, it’s the whole world, and that’s part of what the problem is here,” Jackson also said. “He looks tired, he looks weak, he looks confused, he’s incoherent, and it sends a message of weakness all over the world, and they’re seizing up on that,” he added.
“He’s got 40 years of tape, you can go back and look at this man, so it’s not like we don’t have anything to compare it to,” Jackson said. “You can go back and look, he’s always made gaffes, he’s always made missteps, but never like this. This is something different. These aren’t gaffes…. This is something much more serious.”
Jackson said that Biden’s mental fitness for office, or a lack thereof, “was on full display during the debacle in Afghanistan” and that it could “get more Americans killed” and “ultimately get us in a war because of his lack of leadership.”
Several Republicans have also called on Biden to take a cognitive test because they believe his “mental decline” has “become more apparent.”
Nearly 40 GOP congressional members want Biden to follow the precedent set by his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, as recent polling increasingly shows more Americans are not certain of Biden’s mental fitness for the demanding job of president.
“My colleagues and I are again asking President Biden to immediately undergo a formal cognitive screening exam, such as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA),” Jackson said.
“As a former physician to three Presidents of the United States, I know what it takes mentally and physically to execute the duties of Commander-in-Chief and Head of State,” Jackson added. “Joe Biden has continually proven to me and to the world that something isn’t right. The American people deserve to have absolute confidence in their President’s cognitive ability.”
The Texas Republican said taking “the cognitive test will be an important first step” for Biden to reassure concerned Americans that he is fit for office or “in identifying and properly treating symptoms of impairment that are consistent with a variety of cognitive diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, vascular dementia, Parkinson’s, or multiple sclerosis.”
