The same establishment press that ran cover for Joe Biden's cognitive collapse for years is now pushing a "declining Trump" narrative over a video of the president walking to Marine One — and the double standard isn't subtle, it's the entire story.
Atlanta Black Star framed Trump's October 1 walk across the South Lawn as a "struggle," highlighting his diagonal path toward the helicopter before he corrected course. The outlet amplified social media users mocking the 80-year-old president — one asked "Where the f is he going," another joked his legs were "on backward." Critics debated whether Trump was under the influence or needed assistance, despite his well-known abstention from alcohol.
The piece also circulated a separate clip from two days earlier showing Trump taking his time sitting down at an America.gov event, with CMS administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz standing nearby. Atlanta Black Star noted the White House maintains Trump is in excellent health, while acknowledging his documented history of high cholesterol and diverticulosis.
Here is the same press ecosystem that spent four years insisting Biden was "sharp as a tack" now dissecting Trump's gait frame by frame.
The irony writes itself. Former Biden press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre admitted in a New York Times essay Friday that the Biden team knew the age conversation wouldn't fade — and that her own podium responses made it worse. "At best, my responses from the podium about Mr. Biden's age failed to put out the fire; at worst, they fueled it," she conceded. Jean-Pierre now warns that Trump will face "only more, not less, scrutiny" over appearances of drifting off, cagey medical exams, and late-night social media posts.
So the woman who helped run interference for a president who couldn't find his way off a stage is now offering Trump communications advice — and the Times gave her the platform to do it.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers fired back, telling Fox News Digital that "Biden's policies destroyed our economy" and that Trump has cooled inflation and signed major tax cuts. The exchange underscores the real stakes: this isn't about health, it's about credibility. The same institutions that lied to the public about Biden's condition want Americans to trust their armchair diagnoses of Trump.
Meanwhile, Trump is reshaping the press corps itself. TMZ reported that the president has hired 24-year-old Real America's Voice correspondent Beni Rae Harmony as an assistant press secretary, starting Monday. Trump recently banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House — prompting lawsuits — and gave Real America's Voice CNN's seat on Air Force One. The move signals Trump isn't waiting for the press to police its own double standards; he's changing who gets access.
The press spent years telling Americans that Biden was fine while he visibly wasn't. Now they want the public to believe Trump is faltering based on a diagonal walk across a lawn. The question isn't whether a president's health matters — it's whether the people who lied about the last one have earned the right to report on this one.
