President Joe Biden served up a whopper at West Point as he dragged out a previously debunked lie about the Naval Academy.
“Not a joke.”
Saturday in New York, the incumbent followed in former President Donald Trump’s steps from four years prior to give an election year commencement speech to the graduating class of the United States Military Academy at West Point. It was there that he attempted to endear himself with a repeated claim about being “appointed” to the United States Naval Academy.
“Parenthetically,” Biden began after shoehorning his late son Beau Biden into the speech by way of the Army-Navy football rivalry, “I was appointed by my, a fella I ran against when I was 29-years-old, to the Naval Academy. I was one of ten. I wanted to play football.”
“The day I was supposed to go down for the interview,” the president’s claim continued, “a classmate of mine who was also one of the ten appointed to be chosen from…came to pick me up. And I found out two days earlier they had a quarterback named Roger Staubach and a halfback named Joe Bellino. I said, ‘Oh, I’m not going there.’ I went to Delaware.”
While he laughed at his own tale and served up the oft repeated expression, “Not a joke,” the Republican National Committee shared the speech snippet with a reminder, “He has repeated this lie many times before and there is still no record any of it ever happened.”
Biden tells West Point graduates that he was “appointed” to the Naval Academy, where he “wanted to play football.”
He has repeated this lie many times before and there is still no record any of it ever happened. pic.twitter.com/JxLC1EG9fO
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 25, 2024
In fact, only two years prior at the Naval Academy, separated by his 2023 sandbag stumble in front of the United States Air Force Academy, Biden had spun the same yarn and said, “Before I begin my speech, a thought crossed my mind as I was told the Class of ’72 is here. I was appointed to the Academy in 1965 by a senator who I was running against in 1972.”
Regarding his contrived reference to then-Sen. J. Caleb Boggs (R-DE), White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had deflected at the time when pressed for a clarification, “So, I — oh, I did not hear that part of the speech, so I would have to-”
When the reporter cut in to remind that the remark came at the beginning, the spokesperson backpedaled, “I can’t speak to it right now.”
While the speech also had Biden addressing the global disarray and reaffirming his commitment to Ukraine — “There are no American soldiers at war in Ukraine and I’m determined to keep it that way. But we are standing strong with Ukraine and we will stand with them.” — the fib became a focus with refutations to the timeline and programs at the USNA.
Despite widespread concerns over the president’s mental faculties, reactions on social media steered clear of suppositions of sunsetting and instead ripped into the “top of his class” executive with the uncle “eaten by cannibals” by contending that “He is the definition of a pathological liar.”
He is the definition of a pathological liar. @POTUS
— Barbara P (@barbarapagem) May 25, 2024
Lmfao. My son graduated USNA. Congress nominates, they don’t appoint. Every single cadet at the graduation knows this.
Plus he was 6 years too old.
— Ted E. Bear (@TedEBear607) May 25, 2024
Our media, and no one on the left (but I repeat myself) will fact check him. He can lie with impunity.
— Social distancing champ (@LadyGriz) May 25, 2024
Another day, another lie from Biden. When will the left stop making excuses for this man’s blatant dishonesty?
— RealTrumpTake (@RealTrumpTake) May 25, 2024
Such a disgrace and terrifying at the same time.
Who is running this country?
Where is the true seat of power?
— ILikeCeeeeeeze (@McCheeseus) May 25, 2024
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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