Biden dodges reporters and misses photo-ops to safe ‘tremendous lame duck’ standing on the world stage
‘Mr. President. President Biden. Please, we haven’t heard from you all trip. Mr. President!’
Those were the screams from a reporter at the 81-year-old president, who turns 82 on Wednesday, as he boarded Air Force One to mark the end of last major spin on the world stage.
Instead of responding, the commander-in-chief boarded the presidential aircraft in silence.
It capped off a trip to Peru and Brazil – with a stop in the Amazon – where he answered the majority of questions with a blank stare.
It cemented Biden’s ‘super lame duck’ status on the world stage – as world leaders didn’t wait for him to appear at a photo-op and the White House didn’t bother scheduling a press conference to help with future agenda-setting.
The president headed back to Washington, D.C. after spending six days in South America attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, Peru and the G20 in Rio de Janeiro.
He became the first sitting U.S. president to tour a section of the Amazon rainforest – which became one of several viral moments from the trip, as he appeared to ‘wander off’ into the Brazilian jungle.
President Joe Biden ‘s final spin on the world stage left world leaders waiting and the press wanting – so much that as he boarded Air Force One Tuesday to head home a reporter could be heard screaming at him to take questions
2nd time’s a charm: President Biden made it to a second group photo Tuesday at the G20 after missing a different one Monday – as he made world leaders wait for him on at least two occasions during his travels to APEC and the G20
As he walked onto the plane for his flight back, the frustration of the media was encapsulated by one journalist.
‘Mr. President, happy early birthday. For your birthday, will you talk to us, sir?’ asked the reporter, a member of his traveling press pool. ‘As a gift to the press, will you please talk to us?’
‘Mr. President. President Biden. Please, we haven’t heard from you all trip. Mr. President!’ she screamed.
That final plea came after reporters held up paper signs after his tour of the Amazon forest Sunday to encourage him to speak.
Earlier that day, the indigenous tour guides who had taken Biden, his daughter Ashley and his granddaughter Natalie around the Museu da Amazônia in Manaus, Brazil drowned out shouted questions by playing the maracas as Biden wrapped up his speech.
Online users voiced concerns about this clip that appeared to show President Joe Biden ‘wandering off’ into the Amazon rainforest. In fact, he was walking the same path he took to get to his podium set-up on Sunday afternoon
Perhaps it was Trump’s specter that kept Biden so tight-lipped.
He ignored every single Trump-themed question hurled at him on the trip, though gave a one-word answer to one reporter on how he and Chinese President Xi Jinping – who he met on the sidelines of APEC on Saturday – planned to deal with the North Korean threat.
‘Peacefully,’ he mouthed.
That was the first query Biden had answered since before Election Day.
Senior administration officials told reporters during background briefings that Trump simply wasn’t coming up during Biden’s meetings with world leaders.
The president-elect wasn’t even mentioned when Biden and the leaders of South Korea and Japan were discussing North Korea, a White House official claimed.
Trump famously forged a bizarre friendship of sorts with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
While Biden avoided Trump questions, he also refused to speak on his decision, which was first reported Sunday, to allow Ukraine to strike Russian territory using long-range weapons.
He gave a blank stare Tuesday when, again, he was asked about permitting Ukraine to use the weapons during a meet-and-greet Tuesday with G20 host, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Russia reported Tuesday morning that Ukraine had targeted the Bryansk region overnight.
The heightened tensions stoked World War III fears and angered Trump allies, who feared Biden would bumble the country into greater conflict with just two months of his term to go.
His diminished presence was on full display Monday, when world leaders didn’t bother waiting for him to take one of the G2O group photos, where China’s Xi and India’s Narendra Modi got front row positions.
An American journalist got caught narrating the embarrassing moment.
‘Where was he? They’re telling them to wait for Biden, guys,’ she said. ‘Oh my God!’ she intoned.
President Joe Biden was late to a ‘family photo’ of the leaders attending the G20 summit in Rio on Monday. The assembled leaders grinned for the picture and left before Biden arrived
The photo that Biden missed was arranged to call attention to fighting global hunger in a country that features aching poverty. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva organized the initiative
She then spotted Biden.
‘Do you see him to the left? To the left of the palm tree,’ she exclaimed. ‘Oh my god … He’s behind the palm tree right now.’
The 81-year-old sauntered up to the crowd, who was breaking up after the photo-op, alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The White House almost immediately started playing damage control.
‘Due to logistical issues, they took the photo early before all the leaders arrived,’ a senior official told reporters traveling with Biden after the diss. ‘So a number of leaders weren’t actually there when they took the photo.’
But on Tuesday – as Biden was lining up for yet another group photo – Paolo Pimenta, Brazil’s minister of communications, countered that by telling DailyMail.com that the picture wasn’t taken prematurely.
‘Biden was talking to Trudeau,’ Pimenta said in his native Brazilian Portugese. ‘Because Brazil is like this. When it’s time, it’s time.’
‘It’s British punctuality. But it will be sorted out,’ he added. ‘The photo yesterday was not a G20 photo…everyone thought it was the official photo but it wasn’t.’
President Joe Biden gave a blank stare Tuesday when, again, he was asked about permitting Ukraine to use the weapons during a meet-and-greet Tuesday with G20 host, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
Just days before, in the APEC official ‘family photo,’ Biden’s position was in the second row and over toward the side – which the White House said was due to leaders appearing in alphabetical order.
But then a spokesperson for the National Security Council also had to concede that some of the leaders were out of order due to their own breaches in protocol.
Biden arrived five minutes late for that photo to be snapped.
The image spoke louder than words, with China’s Xi standing front-and-center alongside the APEC host, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte.
The one-and-only time Trump went to APEC, the photo was centered around the American leader.
Biden also raised eyebrows when he arrived at the G20 summit site and appeared to veer off the red carpet and walk a different way than other world leaders.
A senior administration official had to play damage control there too – explaining that some leaders took the different route if there were enhanced security concerns.
And then there was Biden’s walk in the jungle.
A clip of the president went viral that suggested he had gotten lost in the Amazon rainforest.
In fact, he was cutting down the same path he had taken to get to his podium – and teleprompter set-up – to give remarks about preserving the ancient forest for generations to come.
But internet users suggested he was gone for good.
‘And he was never seen again …’ one individual on X posted, showing Biden’s backside slinking into the greenery.
