Media ramps up frenzy over Trump walk - Boston Herald

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It’s come to this: The mainstream media, never one to miss a chance to take a potshot at President Trump, turned a careful walk down a ramp into a cause celebre.

Trump’s trek following his speech at West Point Saturday was, according to reports, “slow and unsteady,” “halting” and “harrowing.”

And the cause of much speculation on social media. Could his measured steps indicate ill health? What is going on with the president? #RampGate trended on Twitter over the weekend.

Trump, as is his wont, took to Twitter:

“The ramp that I descended after my West Point Commencement speech was very long & steep, had no handrail and, most importantly, was very slippery. The last thing I was going to do is “fall” for the Fake News to have fun with. Final ten feet I ran down to level ground. Momentum!”

Well, he did break into a little trot at the end, but running 10 feet, no. Still, why was this such a big deal?

Because it afforded a chance to denigrate the president. CNN insisted that this walk was real news, spelling out its reasons in a piece titled “Why the Donald Trump-West Point ramp story actually matters.”

For one, Trump just turned 74, the oldest person elected to a first term as president.

More importantly, CNN reasons, Trump makes the health of his opponents an issue.

True. And it’s unseemly, as when he refers to former Vice President Joe Biden as “weak & shot.”

“This is a what’s-good-for-the-goose-is-good-for-the-gander situation,” wrote Chris Cillizza on cnn.com. “If Trump can openly question the physical and mental fitness of his Democratic opponents, then when there is a moment where he looks frail, it is absolutely fair game to ask questions about his own well-being.”

Also true — to a point. If Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton or any of the other people whose health, both physical and mental, Trump has called into question or mocked wish to tweet snarkily about the president’s West Point ramp walk, that’s their “good-for-the-goose” prerogative.

But CNN and the other media outlets who took a social media flare-up and gave it a place in the news cycle aren’t Democratic Party spokespeople tasked with presidential sparring.

At least, they shouldn’t be.

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Media ramps up frenzy over Trump walk - Boston Herald
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