White House blasts Axios’s ‘don’t-let-him-trip’ Biden report: ‘Move over, tan suit’

The White House is pushing back on a new Axios report that argues, amid concerns about his age, President Biden’s team is on a “don’t-let-him-trip mission.”

The Axios report outlines “extra steps” the president’s team is taking to keep Biden from stumbling, including balance exercises and wearing tennis shoes.

“Move over, tan suit! Can confirm: @POTUS is one of the millions of Americans with sneakers,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“The single greatest scandal in presidential history (since President Obama wore a tan suit),” White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt wrote.

In 2014, then-President Obama sparked controversy by sporting a tan suit during a press conference, a move that some mocked at the time as un-presidential and that has since been jokingly referred to as one of his administration’s top scandals.

The Axios article contends Biden has been “wearing tennis shoes more often to avoid slipping” after a notable onstage stumble earlier this year. The report also notes he’s been doing balance exercises since as early as November 2021 and using Air Force One’s short stairs more recently.

“The entire press office is incredibly old,” Bates said in a post on X. “How did we get so old,” he continued, adding a photo of press office employees also sporting sneakers with their work attire.

“Notice that when others do the same, the media’s tone is different? ‘As sneakers take over the workplace, the fashion phenomenon is making its way to Congress,’” Bates added, pointing to a CBS News article on members of Congress donning the “the sneakers-with-a-suit look.”

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla), who launched the Congressional Sneaker Caucus with Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.) earlier this year, added to Bates’s commentary, sharing a picture of himself in sneakers. “Look at these old men! #SneakerCaucus” he wrote.

Ammar Moussa, spokesperson for Biden-Harris 2024, quipped on X that even Fox News’s Peter Doocy “thinks this is ridiculous,” sharing a clip of him discussing the Axios report on air.

“They’re very comfortable and everyone here at the White House is wearing them, age 36 to 80,” Doocy said, showing his own sneakers.

The White House is pushing back on Axios’s characterization of the sneakers, exercises and other measures as “a critical project” for his reelection effort amid persistent concerns about Biden’s age.

At 80, Biden is the oldest sitting president and would be 86 by the end of a possible second term, and some see the age-related worries as a stumbling block to his reelection.

Biden’s team has criticized the media for focusing on Biden’s age, and aides have taken swipes at articles on the topic.

“Hanging in the basement,” Herbie Ziskend, the deputy communications director, wrote in a post on X earlier this month, sharing a screenshot of Biden’s packed schedule — referring to a Trump 2020 campaign jab that Biden was running for president from his basement, hiding his lack of stamina amid the pandemic.

Ziskend’s quip followed an Axios article that argued both Biden and Trump are “running basement-esque campaigns in 2024.”

Updated at 12:04 p.m.

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