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:
“You wanna grab that water for a sip?” Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz asks Biden before guiding him away from the podium pic.twitter.com/kfUsdldQ5T
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 21, 2023
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:
Biden begins his speech in Maui and immediately brings up the death of his first wife and daughter in 1972. pic.twitter.com/0jpKldveRW
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 21, 2023
Nor would the AI bot start off a speech mourning an unspeakable loss of human life with a bad attempt at a joke:
Biden says to the Mayor of Maui County: “You look like you played defensive tackle for, I don’t know who, but somebody good” and then says the wildfires are a “national travedy.” pic.twitter.com/ZbQDx5ZW3i
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 21, 2023
Nor would it make this joke, either:
JUST IN: President Biden jokes about how hot the ground is in Maui after a fire ripped through, killing hundreds.
“You guys catch the boots out here? That’s a hot ground, man,” he joked.
— Danny Divito (@realdannydivito) August 21, 2023
I’m not sure whether ChatGPT would pronounce the names of local Hawaiian officials correctly, but Biden certainly didn’t:
Biden mispronounces the names of multiple Hawaii officials pic.twitter.com/4WpGVNWyWB
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 21, 2023
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:
Biden says “Jill and I have a little sense of what it’s like to lose a home” and then tells the story of when lightning struck his house in 2004 and says “I almost lost my ’67 corvette and my cat.”
According to a report from the time, the lighting strike caused “a small fire… pic.twitter.com/V8IBfoZuEW
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 22, 2023
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:
During his speech in Milwaukee, the president appeared to forget the name Maui, referring to the island as ‘the one where you see on television all the time.’ ?
?
— Joni Job (@jj_talking) August 16, 2023
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:
Treating him like a little kid ?
— Penguin Man (@SadPackersFan) August 21, 2023
I hate the way he stands around with his mouth hanging open. Everything about him projects weakness.
— mjhubbard??HOLD CHINA ACCOUNTABLE (@mjhubbard1) August 21, 2023
Poor guy has no idea what is going on.
— ABeardedChris (@ABeardedChris) August 21, 2023
Entire families are dead — children assumed burned to death — and Joe Biden chuckles about:
Almost losing his Corvette in a fire.
One of the most horrifying moments in politics I’ve ever seen. Grotesque.pic.twitter.com/7qzkTyI1Gz
— BDW (@BryanDeanWright) August 22, 2023
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.
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.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
