President Joe Biden has a reputation for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, but his initial reaction to a deadly school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, struck many people as particularly tone-deaf.
After introducing himself as “Dr. Jill Biden’s husband” to a smattering of laughter from the audience, he went on a tangent about his love of ice cream.
Biden after 6 people dead in Nashville shooting of private Christian school:
"I came down because I heard there was chocolate chip ice cream."pic.twitter.com/IS3sRSKW4O
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 27, 2023
“I eat Jeni’s ice cream — chocolate chip,” he said. “I came down because I heard there was chocolate chip ice cream.”
The president said that he has “a whole refrigerator full upstairs,” adding: “You think I’m kidding? I’m not.”
From there, he made sure to recognize the “good-looking kids” gathered in the room before he finally addressed the situation in Nashville.
The event was billed as the Small Business Administration’s Women’s Business Summit but first denounced the “sick” attack that left three children and three adults dead at a private Christian school.
He was not finished extolling the goodness of ice cream, though. As if he were a paid spokesman for Ohio-based Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream, he went on to share his love for the brand.
“If I were allowed to take you upstairs, you got a whole freezer full of Jeni’s chocolate chip ice cream,” he said. “You know it’s pretty dull when you’ve been in public life as long as I have and you’re known for two things: chocolate chip ice cream and Ray-Bans sunglasses, but what the hell.”
Of course, Biden is also known for his frequent gaffes and wildly exaggerated stories, both of which appear to have gotten progressively worse since he became president.
Following an appearance in Canada during which Biden mistakenly referred to the country as China, 2024 GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump expressed his concern about the state of U.S. leadership.
“Mistakes like this, a really big one in Canada’s Parliament, are just not allowed to happen,” the former president wrote in a post on Truth Social. “We are a laughing stock all over the WORLD!”
U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), a former White House physician, has been among the GOP lawmakers repeatedly calling for the president to undergo cognitive testing.
“The American people know what’s going on here, and they don’t think the commander in chief is capable of doing his job,” the Texas Republican said last year. “It’s past time for White House staff and the liberal media to stop shielding him from questions about his mental acuity and demand he answer my call for a cognitive test.”
