As we reported earlier, Joe Biden has finally made it to Maui to speak about the disaster that took place almost two weeks ago. He’s meeting with some of the victims and first responders, and he also has made some brief remarks in Lahaina.
Protesters met him at the airport with signs, excoriating him and saying, “He should’ve been here much earlier,” “It’s too late,” and “Actions speak louder than words.” People even had a sign out in front of their home in Kehei reading “Traitor Joe Must Go.” As we noted earlier, the White House is trying to sell that they have been involved since day one, which isn’t going over well with people who know there are some problems with that statement—including the cold and callous way that Biden responded to the disaster.
On Monday, the president went to the area hardest hit in Lahaina. Before he delivered his remarks, it was Joe Biden being Joe Biden—he got distracted by a dog, smiled broadly, called the dog “the boss” and joked that the ground was hot.
Biden gets distracted by a dog: “That’s some hot ground, man!” pic.twitter.com/FtyuUgFOPF
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 21, 2023
Yes, it might be hot given that there was a disastrous fire there. Biden is sometimes just unbelievable. How do you joke about the ground being hot if you have any kind of empathy at all?
Then, Biden spoke for a few minutes in front of the historic banyan tree. The tree was burned but has survived.
He had trouble pronouncing the names of the Hawaiian officials who were there to meet with him, standing behind him.
Biden mispronounces the names of multiple Hawaii officials pic.twitter.com/4WpGVNWyWB
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 21, 2023
He mispronounced Sen. Brian Schatz’s name and interrupted himself in the middle of pronouncing Sen. Mazie Hirono’s name to make a joke, so he didn’t even have to try to say her last name. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre botched her name last week, calling Hirono “Hireeno” and referring to her as a “he.” Then Biden struggled with Rep. Jill Tokuda’s name and mispronounced Rep. Ed Case’s name, calling him “Ed Chase.”
Maybe this isn’t the time to be smiling, talking to a dog, and joking about your granddaughter in front of where people have just died? Maybe when you’re going there to supposedly show the people of the state you care, you can take a few minutes to get the names of their representatives right? Because when you don’t it just adds to the sense that you’re just dialing it in and can’t be bothered.
He also appeared to be slurring his words, calling the disaster an unimaginable “travedy.”
BIDEN: “…unimaginable travedy…” pic.twitter.com/LPfDVvnlT5
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 21, 2023
Then he referenced the banyan tree and remarks someone had made about it, repeating himself.
BIDEN: “Another referred to fire cannot reach its roots what he said, fire cannot reach its roots” pic.twitter.com/HuFO72se9V
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 21, 2023
But perhaps the worst part was at the end where he just seemed to stop and not know what to do. It’s like he’s looking for the handler who usually helps him, but he’s not there. He just stood there for a moment appearing confused. He looked like he was completely zoned out.
“You wanna grab that water for a sip?” Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz asks Biden before guiding him away from the podium pic.twitter.com/kfUsdldQ5T
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 21, 2023
Brian Schatz then asked him if he needed some water and helped to move him along. But that was bad. He looks so far gone at this point even Schatz gets it and is acting like the handler Biden needs. This is crazy and it’s endangering us all.
I hope that if he meets victims he doesn’t talk about his son, because that might just be too much for some of these folks who have been through so much.
