On Sunday, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden got themselves all gussied up to attend the Kennedy Center Honors after the event went sans presidential presence for four years during former President Donald Trump’s time in office.
Of course, it was the artists’ own dang fault that the Bidens’ predecessors skipped the thing, as some of the 2017 honorees declared they would be boycotting the ceremony if the Orange Man and his wife would be there.
And so, the Trumps declined to attend the ceremony, in order to “allow the honorees to celebrate without any political distraction,” according to People.
As a Democrat, President Biden is apparently not politically distracting, so he was happy to show up in black tie and dote on the various artists being honored, as well as hold the traditional White House reception for the honorees — which Trump had also forsaken.
President Biden even troubled himself to give a few remarks to his guests in the East Room, but this, of course, is where he got himself into trouble.
Say what you will about President Trump, there’s no denying he was capable of stringing a sentence together without lapsing into incoherence, which you’d think would be a pretty basic prerequisite for carrying out the duties of the office of the presidency — even frivolous, ceremonial duties.
But not in 2021. No, not with Joe Biden in office.
As is often the case when the oldest sitting president in U.S. history takes the mic, he got all mixed up when it came to pronouncing the name of celebrated Japanese American violinist Midori, one of the 2020 Kennedy Center honorees, and appeared to call her a “meteor” instead.
If his skin had been a shade more orange, he’d probably have caused a CAT-5 media meltdown and possibly even diplomatic tensions with our neighbors in the east.
But again, he’s a Democrat, so the slip-up seems to have gone largely unnoticed.
During his rambling remarks, Biden noted that he and Jill hosted the 2020 honorees, whose ceremonial proceedings had been delayed last year, of course, because of the pandemic.
“In the spring, Jill and I had the pleasure of hosting last year’s honorees,” he said. “Joan Baez, Garth Brooks, Dick Van Dyke, Debbie Allen,” and, out of his mouth, what sounded like “meteor.”
“I think I left somebody out. But at any rate, I apologize if I did. And,” the lightbulb went off, “excuse me, Midori is who I left out.”
“Left out” probably isn’t quite the right expression for trying and failing to pronounce Midori’s name and then trying to cover for it by pretending he’d simply forgotten her, but no one was being too hard on old Joe, at least not during the Kennedy Center Honors reception at the White House.
Twitter, however, was a bit less generous.
“…Joan Baez, Garth Brooks, Dick Van Dyke, Debbie Allen, meteor—I think I left somebody out,” Biden says, reading from a teleprompter.
“But at any rate. I apologize if I did… uh and uh, uh, um, uh, excuse me… Midori is who I left out.” pic.twitter.com/lKf8LKMnxF
— Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) December 6, 2021
“Joan Baez, Garth Brooks, Dick Van Dyke, Debbie Allen, meteor”
This guy is not well
— Jewish Deplorable (@TrumpJew2) December 6, 2021
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Aren’t I being a bit hard on the old bugger?
Random instances of Biden stumbling over words certainly don’t seem like the most remarkable aspect of his presidency, especially when you consider far weightier matters, such as the crippling migrant crisis, skyrocketing inflation, the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan or the glaring alarm bells surrounding Hunter Biden, his laptop and his suspiciously lucrative art career.
Certainly, verbal foibles are small potatoes, but they become significantly more concerning when you start to look at how frequently things like this verbal stumble happen. Consider that an administration so ravaged with crises is also being (supposedly) headed up by a man who struggles so frequently to simply complete a sentence.
What he said! pic.twitter.com/16cBTiOnl7
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) October 5, 2021
Is Biden ok? pic.twitter.com/zfN74PJY1n
— Jewish Deplorable (@TrumpJew2) December 2, 2021
“You know the rapidly rising umm uh in with uh with I don’t know.” – Joe Biden. pic.twitter.com/WQMkgISM1D
— Francis Brennan (@FrancisBrennan) June 11, 2020
“Chansgender individuals” pic.twitter.com/n3P8xZoQzY
— Jewish Deplorable (@TrumpJew2) October 15, 2021
Crushing it pic.twitter.com/DI21CUSp7k
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 22, 2021
?????? pic.twitter.com/A4t9lFRJBW
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) July 25, 2021
Are you starting to see a pattern?
The economy, the raging humanitarian crisis at the border, our strength in the face of evil overseas and the integrity of the administration are all incredibly vital issues, but the fact that the common denominator between all these pressing issues is a man who seems to barely be able to keep up with what’s going on around him makes them all the more concerning.
Are you worried yet?
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
