A viral video making the social media rounds on October 4th, 2018 shows President Donald Trump carefully ascending the stairs to Air Force One on the tarmac in Minneapolis, Minnesota — with a piece of paper stuck to the back of his left shoe, then pausing at the top and waving before disappearing into the airplane:
The video is real, and it was taken on October 4th, 2018 during Trump’s appearance in Minneapolis:
“Excuse me, Mr. President, I believe you have some toilet paper stuck to your shoe” — said no one.
Alas, President Trump made an embarrassing climb into Air Force One on Thursday with what appeared to be some sort of paper product attached to the bottom of his shoe.
Video showed him step out of a limousine in front of the aircraft at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport and start up the staircase with a couple squares of toilet paper or, perhaps, a napkin, billowing in the wind with each step. What about the dozen or so people surrounding him?
It is not clear whether the offending piece of paper was toilet paper (as it was described in many places) or if it was a napkin or simply a bit of wayward trash:
This video of President Trump with toilet paper on his shoe is 100% real. He was boarding Air Force One in Minneapolis earlier today. pic.twitter.com/wr0ZnXknCx
— Beatrice-Elizabeth Peterson (@MissBeaE) October 5, 2018
Readers and pundits alike pointed out that no one stopped the president to tell him that he was in a potentially humiliating situation, which perhaps added to the perception that the video might have been a hoax.