“Bottom line, never trust a man whose uncle was eaten by cannibals.”
File that phrase under “statements I never thought I’d hear about a U.S. president.”
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst may have just given her quick-witted colleague, Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, a run for his money when it comes to epic quips.
Ernst was caught in a hot-mic moment as she was speaking to Kennedy while leaving a conference focused on the border crisis.
“Bottom line, never trust a man whose uncle was eaten by cannibals,” Ernst was heard saying.
HOT MIC: @SenJoniErnst to @SenJohnKennedy following the Senate GOP border press conference — “Bottom line, never trust a man whose uncle was eaten by cannibals.”
😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/eb8mUGhc0r
— Joe Karwacki (@JoeKarwacki) June 4, 2024
The comment was obviously a reference to remarks Biden made in April while addressing a crowd at a Pennsylvania war memorial. Biden claimed that his uncle, Ambrose J. Finnegan, an Army Air Corps aviator, was shot down over Papua New Guinea during the war and that “They never found the body because there used to be — there were a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea,” according to NBC.
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Biden’s comments drew criticism from Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape, who accused the president of denigrating the nation. Marape said, “President Biden’s remarks may have been a slip of the tongue; however, my country does not deserve to be labeled as such.”
Users of social media platform X found Ernst’s comment hilarious.
“This is the greatest hot mike ever!” one user wrote.
This is the greatest hot mike ever! 😂😂
— DelilahM (@delilahmused) June 4, 2024
“Poor Uncle Bosie never stood a chance. That has to be one of the best hot mic moments,” another user wrote.
“GOP Sen Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, left, made a comment about President Joe Biden, right, that some on social media are calling “the greatest hot mike ever!”
“True. An act of poor taste,” another user wrote, playing on the “eaten by cannibals” part of the quip.
True. An act of poor taste.
— Scott Foster (@ScottFo67766321) June 4, 2024
The allegedly cannibal-consumed uncle was, of course, not the only one of Biden’s tall tales.
Biden has a penchant for lying and saying things that he thinks will endear him to his audience.
For instance, Biden has repeatedly exaggerated details about a 2004 house fire, claiming it almost cost lives and his prized 1967 Corvette, when news reports described a contained kitchen fire.
The Washington Post also reported his implausible story about an Amtrak conductor congratulating him for traveling more miles on Amtrak than on Air Force planes as vice president, even though the conductor had retired over a decade before Biden became VP.
Then there’s the claim of being arrested at civil rights protests or denied entry to see Nelson Mandela in prison, despite the lack of any substantiating evidence to prove that this occurred.
In another story, Biden claimed he presented his Uncle Frank with a Purple Heart in 2009 for service in the Battle of the Bulge. However, Uncle Frank died in 1999, a decade before Biden became vice president, and there’s no record of Frank receiving a Purple Heart.
The list goes on.
While the White House defends these as the president sharing “life experiences that have shaped his outlook,” the truth is simple: The president of the United States is a serial liar and national embarrassment.
Joni Ernst’s private joke between colleagues may have just become a new favorite meme — but the rest of the world was already laughing.
