President Biden made several bizarre gaffes and misspoken statements throughout the official Fourth of July celebration at the White House, appearing confused at times and incomprehensible at other times, including a hearty greeting to the crowd: “Ho, ho, ho! Happy Independence Day!”
The 81-year-old president and First Lady Jill Biden took to the stage with Vice President Kamala Harris and Vice President Doug Emhoff. Harris introduced the “extraordinary” President Biden, and the president began with a brief statement in celebration of the holiday.
Biden appeared in better spirits than he did during his notorious June 27 debate, but his remarks, though louder, were less coherent.
“We must do what our Founding Fathers did: show the world that we are a nation of dignity, honor and commitment to one another,” he said, before urging the crowd to enjoy the fireworks.
As the group walked off the stage, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” blaring, Biden, who was at the very back, suddenly stopped walking and appeared to wonder who to hand the microphone to.
He then took a few slow steps across the stage, handed the microphone to a stagehand, and slowly walked down a short flight of stairs to mingle with the audience.
The same day, Biden appeared to lose his train of thought in a very brief speech at a White House barbecue, making the bizarre claim that congestion on the highways no longer exists and calling his arch rival Donald Trump his “colleague.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t say that anyway,” the commander in chief said after the gaffe, speaking to a crowd of service members and their families.
Despite having access to a teleprompter, Biden stuttered and slurred frequently throughout his four-minute speech.
The Democrat’s remarks focused on his visit to Normandy last month to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings and the “heroes” who gave their lives for democracy.
Biden likened World War I to a modern presidential election and questioned whether Americans were ready to make similar sacrifices in a race against Trump, before beginning to criticize the Republican front-runner and then abruptly stopping.
“By the way, I was at a World War I cemetery in France, and my colleague, the former president, didn’t want to go there,” Biden said, before relenting and acknowledging he shouldn’t have made the statement.
He also, oddly, claimed to have been “in and out of combat” during the trip, but then abruptly cut this statement short, pivoting with his favourite line: “Anyway.”
Biden then walked off the stage to thunderous applause, but picked up the microphone and, for another 30-second encore, said traffic congestion was no longer a problem — something New Yorkers would likely disagree with.
“One last thing: When I was a senator, I thought the highways were always jammed. And now they’re not jammed. You can drive on the highway and there’s no jam,” Biden said.
“So what? To shut me up, they’ll say, ‘We’ve blocked all the avenues. Mr. President, if you don’t win, you’ll lose all the votes. But either way, I’m withdrawing,'” he added unintelligibly.
The White House did not respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment on Biden’s bizarre remarks.
The misguided speech came amid talk among mainstream Democrats that the party is considering replacing an aging, clumsy president.
Van Jones, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, said Thursday there was “total panic” within the party following the harsh criticism of Biden’s performance in last week’s debate between Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Biden made a string of gaffes throughout the 90-minute debate, including appearing to lose his words at one point while saying that his son Beau “died in Iraq” and that “we won Medicare.”
