Footage of Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) taking a spill coming out of an airplane went viral on Wednesday, with a video showing Tuberville slipping midway down the staircase and sliding down the stairs on his back.
One user on X said the footage came from a trip Tuberville took in 2014 when he was head coach of the University of Cincinnati’s football team.
“Old people fall all the time,” said @JasonCooper22, “Here’s 60 year old Tommy Tuberville falling down some stairs in 2014 before losing to UVA in… wait for it… the Military Bowl.”
Before Tuberville was elected senator in 2020, he had a long career as a decorated college football coach. The alleged 2014 game pitted his Cincinnati Bearcats against the Virginia Tech Hokies (not UVA), who beat Tuberville’s team 33-17.
Users on X mocked the footage of Tuberville’s fall because of comments the senator made in July about a trip President Joe Biden took to Europe to visit NATO leaders.
“You watch Joe Biden over in Europe,” Tuberville said in a call with Alabama media at the time. “I mean, I’m afraid he’s going to fall down every time I turn on the television.”
Tuberville’s comments echoed a popular complaint about the state of Joe Biden’s health from opponents, including some conservative influencers. In June Biden took a tumble at the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation, and in February he stumbled going up an airplane ramp in Poland.
Recent reports have claimed that Biden’s team is using shorter stairs to prevent another viral spill.
Users on X quickly jumped on Tuberville’s comments when the footage of his own spill went viral.
“Says the guy captured falling down the stairs nine years ago at the ripe old age of 60 years old,” commented @LawndrySauce. “Clearly Tommy is too old to be serving in the senate since he fell down the stairs.”
“Maybe he’s having flashbacks of himself when he says this about Biden,” tweeted another user.
“Where are the 47,000 articles about his feebleness and why it’s bad?” asked @Lily_Warrior. “That’s what today’s media is like and yet they aren’t writing about his fall ad nauseam.”
Other users took the moment to criticize Tuberville’s hold in the Senate on military promotions. Military promotions are usually voted on in groups, reported Politico, but individual senators can require votes on each one if they decide to assert their right to. Tuberville has been exercising that prerogative for the past few months to protest a policy the Pentagon put in place after Roe v. Wade was overturned to pay for the travel costs soldiers incur to get an abortion across a state line.
“Biden may sometimes trip and fall, but @SenTuberville will always be corrupt and anti-American and anti-military every single day,” said @Youtalkingtume.
