WASHINGTON — Not the time, Joe.
President Biden joked Monday that he only showed up to a White House event because he heard there would be ice cream — before addressing the horrific mass shooting that left six dead at a Nashville elementary school hours earlier.
“My name is Joe Biden. I’m Dr. Jill Biden’s husband,” the 80-year-old president began his remarks at an East Room gathering of women-owned businesses.
“And I eat Jeni’s ice cream — chocolate chip. I came down because I heard there was chocolate chip ice cream,” he said.
“By the way, I have a whole refrigerator full upstairs,” Biden added at his only scheduled public appearance of the day. “You think I’m kidding? I’m not.”
The president then turned serious to address the shooting at the Covenant School, in which three students and three staff members were killed, calling it “sick” and “a family’s worst nightmare” before demanding once again that Congress pass a ban on assault weapons.
Remarkably, Biden again returned to the subject of ice cream with another shout-out to a rep from Jeni’s, an Ohio-based chain with shops across the country, including a location near the White House.
“The businesses represented in this room stretch across industries, from restaurants to architectural firms to hardware stores, plus Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream. And by the way — by the way, it is splendid,” Biden gushed.
“If I were allowed to take you upstairs, you got a whole freezer full of Jeni’s chocolate chip ice cream,” Biden went on — closing his eyes slightly as if to reminisce about taking a bite.
“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,” the president added.
In addition to the ill-timed attempt at humor, Biden’s extended ice cream aside is likely to be fodder for those who say he is simply too old to be elected to a second term.
Biden, already the oldest-ever sitting US president, is expected to launch his re-election campaign as soon as next month. He would be 86 years old if he completes a full second term in 2029.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who was the presidential physician to former Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama, slammed the White House last month for neither producing Biden’s physician to answer press questions nor saying if Biden received a cognitive exam during his annual physical.
“The physician to the president, Kevin O’Connor, owes it to the country to step up to the plate right now and stand up before the press and answer all the hard questions,” Jackson said at the time.
“They are going to be asked, ‘Did he get a cognitive exam done?’ The answer is going to be no because either they’re not going to do a cognitive exam, or they’re going to do one and not let the American people know what the results were.”
Biden’s mental acuity came under intense scrutiny when he asked “Where’s Jackie?” and searched for the late Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) in September, despite publicly mourning her death in an August car crash — even calling her family to offer his condolences.
Biden has publicly referred to his vice president, Kamala Harris, as the “president” at least six times and in February welcomed former President Bill Clinton back to “Congress” while speaking at the White House (Clinton never served in the House or Senate).
In December, Biden claimed that his uncle Frank Biden won the Purple Heart for his actions during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II — but there’s no evidence of the award and key details make the story factually impossible.
However, Biden’s defenders note he has a decades-long history of gaffes and false personal anecdotes.
Biden dropped out his first first presidential campaign in 1987 after it was revealed that he plagiarized UK politician Neil Kinnock’s speeches and embellished details about his academic record.
Former President Donald Trump, 76, is seeking a rematch against Biden and often portrays his successor as unfit for office — nicknaming him “Sleepy Joe” during the 2020 election and more recently taking aim at his instances of public confusion, such as praising “China” last week when he meant to say Canada during a speech to the Canadian parliament in Ottawa.
“Mistakes like this, a really big one in Canada’s Parliament, are just not allowed to happen,” Trump posted on Truth Social Saturday. “We are a laughing stock all over the WORLD!”
