Slippery Ladders and Troubling Sandals: Politicians and Their Stumbles

“The last thing I was going to do is “fall” for the Fake News to have fun with”, Donald Trump said, after explaining why he was being so careful when walking down a ramp after his Saturday speech.

The president said that the ramp was “very long & steep, had no handrail and, most importantly, was very slippery”, prompting him to stay on his guard. The video of his struggle with the ramp soon went viral on social media accompanied by #TrumpIsNotWell hashtag. But many seemed to forget that if it was not for Trump’s precaution, he would make it to the list of the most legendary falls of the world politicians. Here are just some of them:

Hillary Clinton’s double slip. In 2018, the former presidential candidate grabbed everyone’s attention after slipping two times while walking down the stairs at Jahaz Mahal in India, despite being accompanied by an aide. It was not until Clinton actually took off her sandals, which apparently were not helping her to stay upright, that she managed to continue her journey without further slips.

Russian Foreign Minister falls but raises up. Sergei Lavrov was in such a rush to take the stage during “Russia – the country of opportunities” forum back in 2018 that he even fell for one second before quickly rising from his knees. “Did you see? I stumbled. Well, good that it happened not on the diplomatic front, but on the steps”, the Russian Foreign Minister joked after his fall.

Barack Obama loses his balance. The former US president once tripped on stage at Florida’s Hillsborough Community College but also managed to quickly get back on his feet. “I was so fired up I missed a stair!”, Obama said at that time.

Modi’s fall goes viral. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was going to the meeting of National Ganga Council last December when he was captured falling down the stairs of Atal Ghat in Kanpur. At that time, the 69-year-old politicians needed some help from his aides and security team to get on his feet again.

Angela Merkel and her struggle with stairs. German Chancellor joked that she “didn’t see the stairs” when she was heading for the platform at a business event in November 2019. “Next time I will use them”, Merkel promised to the laughing audience.

However, bizarrely enough, not all politicians’ falls have been the real thing. For example, in October 2015, shortly before the Canadian election, English-American comedian John Oliver aired an old video during his Last Week Tonight depicting soon-to-be Prime Minister Justin Trudeau making a dramatic fall over a wooden staircase. According to Oliver, the video just showed Trudeau performing his “party trick”. However, it does not look like Trudeau really enjoyed his fall.