News/Commentary

Biden stumbles into Brazil’s flag, shuffles off UN stage, leaves world leader hanging for handshake

September 21, 2023 | | Print Article

President Joe Biden once again brought his competency into question on Wednesday during a joint speech with Brazilian President Lula that was simply an embarrassment to the United States.

The leaders were there to address the improvement of workers’ rights in their respective countries.

After Biden bumbled into the seven-foot Brazilian flag when walking onstage, he made a clownish show of jogging to the podium. The cringy recovery was just the beginning of yet another disastrous public display by the 80-year-old President of the United States.

Biden gave a labored, rambling speech about his “economic vision to rebuild our economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down” while Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva watched the flailing leader of America make an absolute fool of himself.

“The two largest democracies in the Western Hemisphere are standing up for human rights around the world and the hemisphere, and that includes workers’ rights,” Biden proclaimed.

“Let me be clear, whether it’s the autoworkers union or any other union worker, record corporation profits should mean record contracts for union workers,” he slurred.

“In America, I’m proud that my administration is characterized as the most pro-union administration in American history,” the president declared. “No, I really mean it.”

Lula exclaimed that he had never heard an American president speak so highly about workers and described their common cause as an opportunity to transform ties between their two countries, according to the Daily Mail.

Biden and Lula, 77, purportedly share socialistic visions for their countries and as Biden stepped down from his speech, Lula fondly patted him on the shoulder before he took the mic.

The president kept fumbling with his headset that was being used to hear the translated version of Lula’s speech.

“Can you hear me, President Biden? This is an historical moment for Brazil, and for the US,” Lula declared at the beginning of his speech.

“President Biden, can you hear me?” Lula asked again, getting more and more irritated as Biden mumbled some kind of response. “You can?” he asked, turning to the president. “Yes, good.”

It is certainly not clear if Biden could indeed hear Lula. He looked confused and continued to fiddle with the headset during Lula’s speech. At one point, Biden dropped his earpiece.

When Lula finished, Biden embarrassingly shouted, “Good job!”

International Labor Organization Director-General Gilbert Houngbo followed the two world leaders at the podium. While that was happening, Biden slowly grabbed a folder that had fallen to the ground.

When done, Houngbo shook hands with Biden and Lula. But instead of Biden reaching around and shaking Lula’s hand, he saluted and gave a thumbs-up to the audience who had greeted him with tepid applause. He then shuffled off the stage, leaving Lula hanging, forcing him to withdraw his empty hand. Looking angry, Brazil’s leader then walked off the stage.

“Decent work empowers workers to organize and to negotiate,” Houngbo told reporters following the three speeches, according to the Daily Mail. “It fosters social justice, which is essential if people are to have a brighter future.”

The speeches lasted about 15 minutes and notably occurred on the sixth day of a strike by 12,700 United Auto Workers members against Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler parent Stellantis. The workers are demanding better pay and benefits.

Biden is promoting the US-Brazil Partnership for Workers’ Rights starting a bilateral initiative. He invited other nations and organizations to join the cause.

Lula declared that democracies were under threat around the world. He said it was imperative to support workers’ rights and asserted that the initiative would help “arouse hope” for working families while deepening ties between Brazil and the United States.

“It’s more than just another bilateral. It’s a faith relationship that we are building here and a new era for US-Brazilian relations amongst equal partners,” he claimed. “Poverty and inequality is not in the interest of anybody.”

“This meeting here, for me, is more than a bilateral meeting; it is the rebirth of a new era in the relationship between the US and Brazil. It is a relationship of equals,” Lula gushed, later describing it as “a golden moment for us.”

Brazil has strong ties with China, which is its main trading partner.

Here are the three speeches in full for context:

(Video Credit: Forbes Breaking News)

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