Biden Snubs Brazilian President by Walking Offstage Without Handshake, Viral Reaction Says It All

I never thought we’d get to the point where we’d need someone to tell the president of the United States when he should leave the stage and what he should do before then, but I guess there’s a first for everything — and that first is named Joseph Robinette Biden.

On Wednesday, the president seemed to suffer another episode of premature departure when he walked offstage after a media briefing with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, or Lula for short, without shaking his hand.

Lula, as a very viral clip showed, was having none of it.

According to a fact sheet released by the White House after the two held the briefing in New York in the midst of the United Nations General Assembly, the two men “launched the Partnership for Worker’s Rights, the first joint U.S.-🇧🇷Brazil global initiative to advance the rights of working people around the world.”

The deal itself isn’t worth poring over: It’s the usual claptrap about labor rights, “green” energy and giving a hand to those goshdarned oppressed workers — something both Biden and Lula, a dedicated leftist, can get behind.

Building ties with 🇧🇷Brazil is also a key agenda item for the U.S. since Lula leads one of the so-called BRICS nations — 🇧🇷Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — which have formed an economic bloc that tends to run counter to U.S. interests. (As you may have heard, there are occasional contretemps between Washington, D.C., and the governments in Moscow and Beijing.)

Biden, reading off note cards at the event, didn’t seem super pumped to be there, although “high-energy” isn’t exactly Uncle Joe’s middle name.

However, Biden’s official Twitter account shared a picture of the president and Lula engaging in a vigorous handshake.

The handshake part is important, because the post was issued after a clip began making the rounds of Lula walking away at the end of the briefing in disgust after Biden seemed to forget to shake his hand:

Now, is it entirely certain that a clearly miffed Lula was annoyed because Biden didn’t shake his hand? No. Should Biden be given the benefit of the doubt in these cases? Also no.

First, this wasn’t the only instance of weirdness during the briefing — and we’re not just talking about the rote, sleepy reading of prepared remarks.

Biden almost knocked over a flag while coming onstage and stared off into space while reporters asked questions. Lula, meanwhile, had to repeatedly ask if Biden could hear him, and in a manner that is usually reserved for those who are not quite all there, faculties-wise:

Nor was this the first time Biden has appeared to walk offstage prematurely — in fact, it wasn’t even the first time this month.

Those of you with memories longer than Biden’s might recall the odd incident when he presented the Medal of Honor to retired Army Capt. Larry Taylor for his heroics during the Vietnam War.

And then he promptly up and left. To heck with the rest of the ceremony:

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre later insisted he was supposed to walk out of the room early to “minimize his close contact with attendees” since first lady Jill Biden had COVID at the time.

Never mind that Biden wasn’t wearing a mask during the ceremony, including when he shook hands with the elderly veteran, which — well, if the White House still wants to say that mask-wearing is part of “the science,” he should follow the science. (KJP said he took his mask off to “honor” Taylor and to deliver “incredibly powerful remarks.”)

That was a few weeks ago. What’s the excuse this time? Is it that the president needs someone to guide him through basic ceremonies?

Because that’s certainly what it looks like from here, and it’s not a wild guess that that’s what it looked like to Lula, as well.

Yes, there’s a first for everything. Let’s hope this is also a last.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.