Are President Joe Biden’s shoes the latest clue to his growing incompetency?
As you may have seen recently, the octogenarian president has been spotted wearing Sketchers slip-ons without socks on a few occasions recently. What you may not know is that he seems to like these shoes — a lot.
In fact, he likes them so much that he’s been spotted with them in a suit, in business casual and even on the beach.
As a Twitter user pointed out in a Sunday tweet, this is the latest shot of the president in what appear to be Sketchers Ultra-Flex 3.0 slip-on shoes.
Joe Biden with a pose that strikes fear into the hearts of America’s enemies. pic.twitter.com/EL6HS66Tjg
— Brick Suit (@Brick_Suit) July 31, 2023
It’s worth noting that, according to Politico, Biden didn’t know he was being photographed by the media, who stayed along the water line when the first family visited Rehobeth Beach in Delaware this weekend.
“On Sunday, as the Bidens arrived at Delaware’s Rehoboth Beach, they were kept high atop the dunes. The press pool noted some details of what they wore — bright blue shorts, a navy blue shirt, hat and sneakers for the president; a white top, blue skirt, hat and flip-flops for the first lady — but little else. They observed the Bidens parking themselves on some beach chairs beneath an umbrella and beginning to read. Then after 12 minutes, they were escorted away and waited in vans for the next three hours until the Bidens headed home,” Politico reported.
“So when photos of the shirtless president on the beach started lighting up the internet, it came as something of a surprise to the journalists in the pool vans — and to the White House.”
Not a pleasant one, at that. Granted, few men over 35 should probably be showing off their beach bod, but the mound of flesh combined with the backwards baseball cap (gramps is trying to imitate the cool kids 30 years ago!), aviator shades and the Sketchers made the shot truly bizarre.
But, as the same Twitter user noted, the president’s been wearing the same shoes quite a bit recently.
Can we talk about Joe’s new shoes?
Is he going to wear them everywhere?
Why does he need these sneakers all of a sudden?
Socks? pic.twitter.com/kjNCZkUibr— Brick Suit (@Brick_Suit) July 31, 2023
With a suit? Check. With khakis? Check. And without a shirt at all? Check. (Maybe he got the 7-Eleven sign wrong: If you have shoes but still no shirt, you’re not going to get service, either.)
The Sketchers first became a hot topic of debate after a New York Times photographer noticed them last month.
.@POTUS boards Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base as he departs for London, England. Biden was not socks with his sneakers. pic.twitter.com/3CRQJ5uqnR
— Doug Mills (@dougmillsnyt) July 9, 2023
That picture led to a debate over the propriety of sneakers without socks, including this invaluable contribution from one half of the liberal Krassenstein brothers, proving yet again there’s no issue a Krassenstein can’t turn into clickbait:
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) July 9, 2023
A bigger issue might be the shoes themselves, considering it’s not the first time the president’s footwear has caused a stir online.
On June 1, in his latest pratfall, Biden tripped and toppled over during the commencement at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. After the fall, social media users noticed his shoes appeared to not have flat bottoms but instead seemed to be designed to deliver extra grip:
Joe Biden falls at the Air Force Graduation!
What kind of shoes are these? pic.twitter.com/Jch79xVHmv
— AMERICANDREAM09 ?? Jack Media ~DREAM (@JackMedia7) June 2, 2023
They gave Joe special grip sole shoes and he’s still falling on his face. Sad. pic.twitter.com/L0sKXlEoY7
— Brick Suit (@Brick_Suit) June 1, 2023
Whether or not they were specially designed shoes is a matter of debate, but the point is that if they were, there’s the possibility that even those weren’t enough to stop the president from falling. Hence: Sketchers, with or without socks.
I’m not saying that a president shouldn’t be able to wear sneakers every now and then, but that shouldn’t be the only thing he wears. Dwight Eisenhower had a heart attack in office, and people wondered about his fitness; you didn’t see the man putting on a pair of Chuck Taylors. The media chided Donald Trump for going down a ramp slowly, but he never thought the solution was a pair of comfy slip-on sneakers.
If Biden has reached the point in his life where he or his minders feel this is the only footwear that can keep him from falling, there’s a place for this — at home in Delaware, away from the rigors of the presidency. At this rate and given four more years, Biden will likely be delivering his rambling remarks via Zoom in his bathrobe.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
