In an era where every second of public life is recorded, replayed, and dissected, even the most ordinary human moments can be transformed into symbols far larger than they deserve to be. Politics today does not merely unfold through policy speeches or legislative battles; it plays out in fragments of video, slowed down, looped, and stripped of context until meaning is manufactured on demand. That reality was on full display during a brief, unremarkable moment involving Donald Trump as he boarded Air Force One earlier this year.
The scene itself lasted only seconds. As Trump climbed the familiar staircase of the presidential aircraft, he appeared to momentarily lose his footing. There was no fall, no interruption, no visible injury. He steadied himself immediately and continued boarding without assistance or pause. For those present on the tarmac, it barely registered as noteworthy—an everyday misstep that happens to people of all ages, in all professions, every single day.
Online, however, reality moves differently.
Continue reading next page…