Why the Donald Trump-West Point ramp story actually matters
Chris Cillizza
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 5:16 PM EDT, Mon June 15, 2020
CNN —
President Donald Trump’s slow and halting descent down a ramp following his commencement speech at West Point lit up the internet over the weekend, with many speculating about whether he was in ill health.
>https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/15/politics/donald-trump-ramp-west-point-speech/index.html
Trump’s Halting Walk Down Ramp Raises New Health Questions
The president also appeared to have trouble raising a glass of water to his mouth during a speech at West Point a day before he turned 74, the oldest a president has been in his first term.
Video
President Trump’s descent down a ramp after speaking at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York reopened questions about his health.CreditCredit…Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times
Maggie Haberman
By Maggie Haberman
Published June 14, 2020Updated Dec. 23, 2020
> https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/14/us/politics/trump-ramp-water-glass-health.html
‘Like a baby deer on a frozen pond’: Late-night hosts mock Trump over ‘Ramp-gate’
By Allyson Chiu
June 16, 2020 at 6:36 a.m. EDT
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/16/trump-late-night-ramp/
Trump's West Point walk sparks questions about his health
>https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/06/15/president-donald-trump-west-point-ramp-sanjay-gupta-newday-vpx.cnn
Trump Boasts of Successful Walk Down Shallow Ramp Without Tripping
Portrait of Jonathan Chait By Jonathan Chait, who’s been a New York political columnist since 2011.
President Trump inching along at West Point. Illustration: Screencap/CPSAN
While it is common for politicians to boast about their accomplishments, “successfully walked down ramp” is not usually the kind of achievement a president of the United States would emphasize in his messaging. But Donald Trump’s campaign is predicated on depicting his opponent, Joe Biden, as a helpless invalid, and himself as a virile and improbably healthy male who sleeps with models, or at least in the same building as them, in return for compensation commensurate with the task.
But yesterday, Trump was recorded walking gingerly down a very shallow ramp, staring intently at his feet the entire way, after his address at West Point:
> https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/trump-ramp-walks-west-point-slippery-steep.html