President Biden made several unusual errors and misstatements during the official White House Fourth of July celebration, appearing confused at times and unexpectedly greeting the crowd with a jovial “Ho ho ho! Happy Independence Day!”
The 81-year-old president and First Lady Jill Biden shared the stage with Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff. Harris introduced the “extraordinary” President Biden, who then gave a brief holiday greeting.
Biden appeared more energetic than during his heavily criticized June 27 debate performance. However, his statements remained just as incoherent, albeit louder.
“We gotta do what our founders did: show the world we’re a nation of dignity, honor, and just devotion to one another,” he declared before encouraging the audience to enjoy the fireworks.
At one point, Biden hesitated mid-step, unsure of whom to hand the microphone to. After a few slow steps alone, he eventually passed the mic to a stagehand. He then carefully descended a short flight of stairs before mingling with the crowd.
Earlier in the day, Biden seemed to lose his train of thought during a very brief speech at a White House barbecue, oddly claiming that highway congestion no longer exists and nearly referring to his rival Donald Trump as his “colleague.”
“I probably shouldn’t even say that … anyway,” the president remarked after the latter slip to a crowd of military service members and their families.
Biden trailed off multiple times in his four-minute speech, which was riddled with slurred words, despite having a teleprompter. He focused his remarks on his visit to Normandy last month to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day and honor the “heroes” who sacrificed their lives for democracy.
Comparing World War I to the modern presidential race, Biden questioned whether Americans would make the same sacrifices in his race against Trump. He began to criticize the presumptive Republican nominee before abruptly stopping.
“By the way, I was in that World War I cemetery in France, and one that my colleagues, the former president, didn’t want to go and be up there,” Biden said before conceding that he shouldn’t have made the comment.
He also made the strange claim that he was “in and out of battle” during the trip, another statement he cut short before pivoting with his usual segue: “Anyway.”
Biden then left the stage to applause but grabbed the microphone for an additional 30-second encore in which he claimed traffic is no longer an issue—a statement that would surprise New Yorkers.
“One last thing, and I used to think when I was a senator, there were always congestion on the highways. There’s no congestion anymore. We go on the highway, there’s no congestion,” Biden said.
“And so what? The way they get me to stop talking, they’ll say, ‘We just shut down all the roads, Mr. President, you’re gonna lose all the votes if you don’t get in. But anyway, I’ll be back out,” he nonsensically added.
These disjointed speeches come amid rumors from establishment Democrats that the party is considering replacing the aging president.
Former Obama presidential adviser Van Jones stated Thursday that the party is now in “full-scale panic” following Biden’s poorly received debate performance against former President Donald Trump last week.
Biden made a series of gaffes during the 90-minute debate, including incorrectly stating that his son Beau “died in Iraq” and that he “beat Medicare,” while also appearing to freeze at one point.
{CB Frommer – Matzav.com}