Joe Biden needs a translator.
Granted, the president’s native language is English. We think. He certainly doesn’t seem to understand the nuances of it — but then, it’s not like changing tongues would make any difference.
Take Biden’s Labor Day speech to workers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Biden was bragging about reducing the deficit this year. Granted, those deficits were exacerbated by spending associated with the COVID pandemic, but that’s not going to stop him from bragging about it.
If only we could understand what he was bragging about.
Joe Biden attempts to say “reduce the deficit.” pic.twitter.com/otX4ixGYIX
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 5, 2022
Yes, the White House “rededudenedefet this year.” Good show!
PROMPTER: “Do you know how much we Reduced the deficit this year?”
BIDEN:“Do you know how much Rededudenedefet this year?”
pic.twitter.com/AjUu0RRNvg— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 5, 2022
One of the toughest jobs in politics has to be the official White House transcript writer. That’s because the president — a teetotaler, according to The New York Times — so frequently sounds like my drunk uncle giving the speech at my cousin’s graduation party that his words are nigh incoherent.
Do you think Biden’s gaffes signal mental decline?
Here’s the official transcribed version of what he said: “And you know how much — you know how much I’m reducing the deficit this year? One trillion, five hundred thousand reduction of the deficit.”
Even that’s not particularly coherent, though close enough for government work — at least the kind of government work Biden has spent his adult life making a hash of. But it’s also not quite what most listeners would have divined.
This isn’t even the worst instance of the slurring. For my money, this one from the campaign trail back in October of 2020:
Joe Biden: “I’ll lead an effective strategy to mobilize [unintelligible]!” pic.twitter.com/cggH79eZB1
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 30, 2020
What he said! Even though what he said was “truinnerashuvaduprezure!” (It’s possible there was an “international pressure” hidden in there somewhere — possible, if not reassuring.)
It’s not just word-slurring, either. Here’s Biden from earlier this year, talking about how the administration was going to “accommodate” the “kleptocracies” in Russia:
Is everything okay?
We carried Presdient Biden’s Ukraine remarks live on @FaulknerFocus today. #kleptocracy pic.twitter.com/aINZImChEy
— HARRISFAULKNER (@HARRISFAULKNER) April 29, 2022
Of course, when he can be understood and speaks in coherent sentences, he’s still not the brilliant wordsmith he clearly thinks he is.
Here he is in August, telling reporters he was “not worried” about China’s moves on Taiwan, although he was “concerned.”
Speaking with reporters at Dover AFB, President Biden responds to question about China’s actions towards Taiwan.
Biden: “I’m not worried but I’m concerned that they’re moving as much as they are. But I don’t they’re going to do anything.” pic.twitter.com/Ugu1UHOs2O— CSPAN (@cspan) August 8, 2022
For most Americans, whatever the hair-splitting difference Biden thinks there is between “worry” and “concern” would not be a great comfort under normal circumstances.
And when it’s coming from a president who was similarly complacent about the prospect of the Taliban taking over Afghanistan a year ago, and misread Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions toward Ukraine so badly six months ago, it’s no comfort at all.
And let’s not forget the greatest Bidenism of them all, from February of 2020:
Two years ago today, Joe Biden came to New Hampshire and called a voter a “lying dog faced pony soldier”#nhpolitics
— Andrew Mahaleris (@Mahaleris) February 10, 2022
Just for fun, here’s Biden trying to explain what a “lying dog-faced pony soldier” is by referring to an old John Wayne movie:
He’s explaining what a lying dog faced pony soldier is! pic.twitter.com/11rdATR8se
— Ramy (@GenZdemagogue) February 12, 2020
You’ll not be surprised, however, that Biden is probably wrong about the John Wayne part, too.
Quoth Vox: “The general consensus seems to be that Biden is probably thinking of the 1952 Tyrone Power film ‘Pony Soldier,’ in which a character says, ‘The pony soldier speaks with a tongue of the snake that rattles.’”
Of course, this would all be funny if it weren’t so serious. We’ve been watching Biden degrade in real time since the beginning of the presidential campaign in 2019. It gets worse and worse — and yet, the White House insists he’ll be the Democratic candidate in 2024.
By that time, I don’t think he’ll be “rededudenedefet” anymore, thanks to his spending habits. That could be the least of our worries, however.
