During the joint press conference between President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio on Wednesday, April 10, President Joe Biden drew scorn online and embarrassed himself. He did so by when deciding what reporter to call on, mumbling that he had to look through his list of reporters and choose one off of it.
He said, looking at his list, “Okay. Third que- — the next question. Who — who do I call on next? Hang on a second. I got my list here. Hang on. I apologize. Aurelia of AFP.” Aurelia, for her part, asked, “Thank you. My first question would go to both of you, Mr. President and Mr. Prime Minister. Is there a path for Japan to become a full member of AUKUS?”
She continued, asking a question of President Biden as well, saying, “And I would have a second question for you, Mr. President. You’re now saying that Benjamin Netanyahu is making a mistake in Gaza. What are you willing to do to make him change his strategy? And would you consider conditioning military aid to Israel? Thank you.”
Prime Minister Kashida said, “Thank you. Your question about AUKUS, I will respond. Our country — we want to contribute to the peace and stability of the region. And therefore, we have consistently supported AUKUS. Having said that, the participants of AUKUS — U.S., UK, Australia — with such countries’ bi- — bilateral relationship or in multilateral occasions, we have established various relationships. But for Japan, to have a direct cooperation with AUKUS, nothing has been decided at this moment. Going forward with U.S., UK, or with Australia — with such countries, in bilateral or multilateral frameworks, we will continue our cooperation so that they will continue to be considered. At the moment, about the relationship between Japan and AUKUS, that’s it.”
Answering the question about Israel, President Biden said, in part, “With regard to my discussions with Bibi Netanyahu — Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as our relationship with Israel, I have been very blunt and straightforward with the Prime Minister, as well as his War Cabinet, as well as the Cabinet. And the fact of the matter is that Bibi and I had a long discussion. He agreed to do several things that related to, number one, getting more aid — both food and medicine — into Gaza and reducing significantly the attempts — the civilian casualties in any action taken in the region. And thus far — and we — and it’s tied to the hostages. There are a number of hostages that are being held by a — by the — Hamas. And just yesterday, we were meeting with the Vice President and our National Security Advisor before that, and they — and there are American hostages as well. And they know how committed we are — the whole team — to getting their loved ones home, and we’re not going to stop until we do.”
But, regardless of the answers given, Biden’s looking through the list when choosing who to call on drew large amounts of scorn online. The Breaking 911 X account, for example, said, “Biden reads from his notecard of approved reporters he’s allowed to call on.” The account also quoted Biden as saying, “Third, next question, who do I call on next? Hang on a sec, I got my list here, hang on…”
Watch the video Breaking 911 posted, the clip to which many commenters responded, here:
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Responding to that clip, people threw jabs the way of Biden and his White House, saying things like “So they claim its a democracy yet the oligarchy chooses who can ask what question when” and “Would be great if we could have a President who didn’t embarrass us nearly every public speaking appearance, regardless of which political side.”
Still another commenter said, ” P A T H E T I C. later he tells Arizonaians he is in the 20th century 🤔” That is a reference to when Biden said, after being asked about abortion, “Elect me. I’m in the 20 — it’s the 20th century — 21st century, not back then. They weren’t even a state. I find —”
Yet another joked, in reference to unverified claims on X that Biden was reading pre-written answers off of notecards when asked questions from the reporters, “Him reading – and struggling to do so – his pre written responses is even more embarrassing IMO.” Another laid the blame at least partially on the media, saying, “As pathetic as this is it’s even worse that the press allows this to happen every single time.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video