“Up the Down Staircase” is a 1960s movie featuring an English teacher in an inner-city New York high school. Like other popular movies from years gone by, many are remade into a more woke or politically correct version. This past Friday, President Joe Biden remade the movie but in solo version, a soliloquy starring only himself.

While ascending the staircase to Air Force One, Biden fell not once, not twice, but three times, going up the stairs.

YouTube screen grab

The White House blamed the three stumbles on the wind, as if brave Joe were scaling a mountain in the face of hurricane force winds. Actually, it was only a light breeze, about 14 miles per hour. Is Joe that frail that a light breeze can knock him to the ground? I wonder what Putin and Xi think of that?

Putin, who laughs at Biden’s accusations of Putin being “a killer,” rides bare chested on a horse and takes dips in an icy lake. In an age where image is everything, America’s leader looks like a feeble nursing home resident, and the Russian leader looks like Rambo. Chairman Xi doesn’t need to rip off his shirt as his consigliere ripped Biden’s foreign policy team a new one during their recent meeting in Alaska.

Biden not long ago criticized Trump for slowly walking down a slick ramp to avoid falling, a common sense move for everyone in their 70s, especially the leader of the free world with cameras and a hostile media ready to pounce on any misstep. Trump falling would have been taken as evidence of his erratic mental status and unfitness for the presidency. Unlike Biden’s falling being blamed on “the wind.”

Biden ironically said about Trump, “Look at how he steps, and look at how I step. Watch how I run up ramps and he stumbles down ramps. OK. Come on!” Talk about karma.

An honest media would ask CircleBack Psaki if President Biden stands by his previous words and if they apply to his recent fall. Instead they will ask if Joe scuffed his shoes or scratched the Rolex the media once fawned over.

It has been a tough few weeks for Joe. He referred to his vice-president as “President Harris” and recently forgot the name of his Secretary of Defense and the famous five-sided building where he works.

This is all good for memes and chuckles on social media, but it is far more serious for America and the world. The UK’s NHS has good information on falls and dementia.

Dementia has a clinical definition,

Dementia is a syndrome (a group of related symptoms) that is associated with an ongoing decline of the brain and its abilities. Some of these symptoms include memory loss and difficulties with thinking, problem solving, communication and language.

Think of the above definition and Biden’s behavior, as president and  during the presidential campaign, confusing his wife and sister and forgetting the name of the Declaration of Independence, calling it, “you know, the thing.”

Those with dementia, “are more likely to experience problems with mobility, balance and muscle weakness.” As we saw with Biden falling up the stairs.

They “can have difficulties with their memory and finding their way around” and “can have difficulties processing what they see and reacting to situations.” The above cited examples are a few of many.

If anyone had a family member so afflicted, they would have a home helper or think seriously about placing the person in an assisted living facility or memory center. The last thing would be for such a person to be put into a position of pressure, not placing him in charge of a store, school, or business, much less in control of the entire US government and military.

No wonder Speaker Pelosi and dozens of Democrats want Biden to give up sole authority to launch nuclear weapons. This is well beyond gaffes and “Ole Joe being Joe”.

Biden was a convenient way for Democrats to regain power and give Barack Obama and his minions a third term in the White House. But if Biden mouths off to Putin, Xi, or Kim and starts a war, nuclear or otherwise, Democrats are just as flammable as everyone else.

Double masking, social distancing, and a corrupt DOJ won’t be much help if a Russian or Chinese nuke explodes about a mile above Washington, DC. And the Democrats know this. Much of what they do is theater, but a man of limited and failing mental faculties, holding his finger over the big red button, is no longer a game.

Average Americans are also worried. Half of those polled question Biden’s physical and mental health. His stumble up the down staircase won’t move those numbers in Biden’s favor; instead, the opposite.

Foreign leaders, eager to topple America into second or third place, are noticing these things too. Animals attack when their prey is weak. Leaders of Iran, Russia, and China can smell blood in the water and are watching for opportunity to make their moves.

Sure, we have the military, but their priority is not defending the homeland, but rather making sure transgenders feel welcome and appreciated, that pregnant women have appropriate maternity suits to wear into battle, and that private citizens like Tucker Carlson dare not criticize the military.

We are in a dangerous place. Captain “C’mon man” Queeg is running the USS America, not sure if he is heading out to sea or into a reef. Falling three times while going up the stairs epitomizes his entire presidency.

Do those who didn’t like Trump’s tweets feel better now that an enfeebled old man is in charge? This is unchartered territory and America could be in for a rough ride, the entire country falling up the down staircase.

Brian C Joondeph, MD, is a physician and writer. He is on sabbatical from social media.