June 1, 2023
It was a perfect sunny day. A gentle breeze flowed over the audience gathered for the happy occasion. It was graduation day for Air Force cadets.
The leader of the free world had just finished giving his speech and was handing out the diplomas at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
A young cadet with a big smile accepted his diploma from his 80-year-old commander in chief, then turned to salute the crowd. The leader suddenly lost his footing. The leader was Joe Biden and he took a nasty fall on this day, June 1, the first day of “Pride” month, a day in which this same leader had ordered U.S. embassies around the world fly Pride flags giving special honor to the LGBTQi+ community.
Take a look at this embarrassing moment in presidential history.
This is by no means the first time Biden has fallen, but the falls seem to be getting more frequent and more severe. This time he literally ended up on all fours in front of thousands of spectators, as the sound of applause turned into gasps from the crowd.
As I watched that video, I could not help but see it as metaphoric, a poignant symbol of America falling from its status as a world military superpower. This did, after all, happen at a military event. Their leader fell and had to be helped back up.