Video footage captured Wednesday, July 1, showing President Donald Trump lurching side to side across the tarmac before boarding Marine One, has ignited a fresh wave of scrutiny over the 80-year-old commander-in-chief’s physical condition — and a scorched-earth denial from the White House.
Trump traveled to Medora, North Dakota, on Wednesday to tour and dedicate the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library ahead of its Saturday opening, which coincided with the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The trip marked his first flight aboard a new Boeing 747 designated as Air Force One, a $400 million aircraft gifted to the United States by the Qatari royal family.
Trump defended the arrangement by recounting that he had asked Boeing — which is set to deliver purpose-built replacement aircraft in 2028 — whether any country had a suitable interim plane. “I said, ‘Who has the best one?’ They said, ‘Qatar,'” Trump said, adding that he was assured no plane compared. The aircraft drew its own attention after it emerged that the interior had been fitted with decorative fake books labeled with the word “library” along their spines.
Lurching Gait Draws Attention on the Tarmac
Following the plane’s arrival, Trump walked to Marine One for the brief flight to the library. During that short walk, cameras captured the president, now the oldest to be inaugurated in U.S. history, moving more slowly than his two security escorts, swaying visibly from side to side with a gait that seemed to favor his left leg. He climbed the helicopter’s two steps and settled heavily into his seat. The helicopter then took Trump to a Freedom 250-themed train that transported him to the library, where he cut the ribbon and addressed approximately 3,000 attendees at the Burning Hills Amphitheatre in Medora. Coming down the train’s five stairs at the library, Trump once more moved with evident stiffness toward the assembled crowd.
The footage spread rapidly, with journalist Aaron Rupar posting the clip and writing that “Trump walks like a guy failing a sobriety test, then labors to get into a helicopter.” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung responded forcefully, calling the journalist blind or stupid and insisting it was “a perfect walk,” using nearly identical language his office had issued the prior September following similar footage of Trump boarding Air Force One.
A Pattern of Unsteady Moments
Wednesday’s footage does not stand alone. Last month, during a New York trip to watch the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, Trump was filmed at JFK Airport carefully picking his way down the Air Force One stairs before drifting in a wide — veering right, then looping back left — to reach the waiting press corps. During a visit to watch the New York Knicks play at Madison Square Garden in June, his uneven gait drew similar attention. And when Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last year, observers noted an identical side-to-side lurch as he crossed the tarmac there. Beyond the questions about his walk, Trump has presented a range of other physical signals that have drawn public notice since beginning his second term. He has appeared in public with visibly bruised and swollen hands — and has acknowledged using makeup to conceal those bruises — as well as swollen ankles and a recurring neck rash. Separate footage has shown him appearing to fall asleep during White House meetings; aides have insisted he was merely blinking. He has also repeatedly boasted about passing a cognitive screening exam, though he has conflated the dementia assessment with a test of general intelligence. His speeches and interviews have frequently wandered far from their stated subjects.
Aides Said to Notice ‘Moments of Fatigue’
In their book “Regime Change,” journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan report that Trump’s own aides have privately characterized him as appearing aged during his second term, with staff noticing periods of tiredness and gestures such as cupping a hand behind his ear. According to Haberman and Swan, Trump has experienced hearing difficulties and has shifted gatherings from the East Room to the Oval Office, where sound quality is better, and he can remain seated instead of standing. In May, Trump underwent a three-hour evaluation at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, conducted by 22 specialists — compared with 14 doctors who conducted his previous checkup.
None of that appeared to dim Trump’s enthusiasm for the North Dakota visit itself. He was named the library’s first official visitor, according to executive director Robbie Lauf, and his administration announced $750,000 in federal support for the facility’s inaugural year of operations. Speaking to the crowd at the Burning Hills Amphitheatre beneath a high summer sun, Trump lavished praise on the 26th president. “He had a freakin’ wild life,” Trump told the audience, adding: “He didn’t want to be quiet. He wanted to be great.” The 96,000-square-foot, $450 million library sits in the rugged badlands landscape where Roosevelt ranched and hunted in the 1880s and first developed the conservation ethos that would define his presidency.
All living former presidents were invited to Saturday’s grand opening.
