In his speech at the White House’s Fourth of July celebration, President Joe Biden appeared on the stage with his Vice President Kamala Harris, First Lady Jill Biden, and Seond Gentleman Doug Emhoff. Harris opened for the President, delivering an extemporaneous crowd-pleasing speech about gratitude, mentioning the American way of life, members of the military, and their families, before passing the microphone off to her boss. Biden, upon taking the microphone, left his audience temporarily perplexed when he opened his speech with the traditional Christmas catch phrase: “Ho, ho ho!”
He quickly corrected himself by adding “Happy Independence Day!” and then proceed to, himself, give an extemporaneous speech during which he interrupted himself and stumbled, but pushed through with an extra dose of stern emphatic energy, to bring the speech in for a more-or-less successful landing, of which the crowd seemed to approve.
After the impromptu speech, Jill Biden, Harris, and Emhoff walked off stage, a move which seemed to confuse the President for a moment before he re-captured his context, mugged for the crowd, and shuffled off the stage on his own where he shook hands with members of the crowd.
Social media users watching the moment were not inclined to be kind to the aging Chief Executive, with many openly wondering whether the President new what holiday it was.
Opposition media personalities and pundits were particularly brutal, with Newsmax show host David J. Harris, Jr. proclaiming in disbelief that reality was now stranger than anything anyone could make up.
While Republicans pounced on the moment, they’re hardly alone in their criticisms of the President’s mental health. A number of prominent voices on the Democrat side of the aisle have called for Biden to step aside after his disastrous debate performance in the final week of June, with Julian Castro, the former HUD Secretary under President Obama, urging Biden to withdraw from the presidential race immediately so that there’s time for the party to field a suitable replacement.
