Share
Commentary

Biden Ignores Hawaii Senator's Question, Looks Completely Out of It as He Shuffles Off Stage

Share

Well, at least now we know why President Joe Biden took weeks to visit the site of the deadliest wildfire in America in over a century.

On Monday, the president finally visited the Hawaiian island of Maui, where 114 people have been confirmed dead and over 1,000 are still missing from the Aug. 8 fires.

The president’s refusal to cut short his summer vacation to visit — or even to acknowledge the depth of the ongoing human tragedy, aside from a pro forma statement and some remarks to the media — had been a source of embarrassment to the White House, which has tried to portray the octogenarian commander in chief as being a man on top of things as he runs for a second term.

However, if his inattention to Maui had been a source of embarrassment, that had nothing on what happened when he finally got around to devoting his full attention to the catastrophe-stricken island.

Biden gave two sets of remarks in Lahaina, both of them brief. There was little in the prepared remarks that couldn’t have been written by ChatGPT, with the president telling residents that “the country grieves with you, stands with you, and we’ll do everything possible to help you recover, rebuild and respect culture and traditions when the rebuilding takes place.”

“My administration has been in constant contact with the governor and congressional delegation and local leaders. As soon as I got the governor — governor’s request, I signed the master — the major disaster declaration that mobilized the whole-of-government response, which means whatever you need, you’re going to get,” he said.

However, at least one major difference between Biden and ChatGPT is that the latter answers questions posed to it.

Witness the president at the end of his remarks, as Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz asked him if he wanted a sip of water:

Totally on top of his game, folks. And ready for another four years.

Other differences between Biden and ChatGPT: For one, ChatGPT doesn’t make your tragedy about itself:

Nor would the AI bot start off a speech mourning an unspeakable loss of human life with a bad attempt at a joke:

Related:
Does Biden Want Trump to Win? Joe's Recent Moves Have JD Vance Convinced There May Be More to the Picture

Nor would it make this joke, either:

I’m not sure whether ChatGPT would pronounce the names of local Hawaiian officials correctly, but Biden certainly didn’t:

And this is just one set of remarks.

In the other, delivered at the Lahaina Civic Center, Biden told victims he could relate to their pain because he once had a small house fire at his Delaware home:

The good news is that at least he seemed to remember the name of the island while he was there. I’m not being sarcastic here; this has seriously been a problem thus far in the president’s disaster response:

Suffice it to say that social media users weren’t impressed with the performance, especially the bizarre clip of Schatz leading a seemingly confused Biden away from the podium:

Now, just to be clear, I can’t tell you for certain that having a president in compos mentis would have helped avert a massive tragedy and a slow response in Lahaina; from what we know at present, a multitude of poor decisions in the short and long term by local officials seems to be responsible for the depth of the suffering.

That said, part of the president’s job is leading by example when he can’t lead by direct action. In that department, Biden has failed in every conceivable way.

He offered a “no comment” and a smile when asked about the tragedy while he was on vacation in Delaware. His official statements on the matter were chatbot-bland — and things got worse when he went off the script and started cracking wise.

Is Biden a weak leader?

He couldn’t remember Maui’s name. He couldn’t pronounce local officials’ names correctly. He compared the deadliest wildfire in modern American history to that time when a small house fire almost damaged his ’67 ’Vette.

We all thought that things couldn’t get worse than Biden refusing to visit Maui in the immediate wake of the disaster. Then he visited Maui and proved us all wrong.

America can’t take four more years of this senescent bumbling.

Truth and Accuracy

Submit a Correction →



We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Tags:
, , , , , , , , ,
Share
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.

Conversation