Biden was meeting with officials in Boise, Idaho, to discuss the wildfires raging across the western United States when he turned his attention to George Geissler of the National Association of State Foresters.
"Can I ask you a question?" Biden asked.
"Of course," Geissler answered.
"One of the things that I've been working on with some others is — " Biden said before the audio and video coverage stopped without warning.
The livestream — which also included translation by an American Sign Language interpreter — was replaced by a message that said "THANK YOU FOR JOINING," according to a clip posted on Twitter by the research arm of the Republican National Committee.
The incident marked the latest example of the White House cutting short its online coverage of Biden, 78, who's publicly admitted being a "gaffe machine" throughout his long political career.
Official livestreams of the president were interrupted last month, as he was about to answer a reporter's question on his decision to withdraw the US military from Afghanistan, and in March, when he said he'd be "happy to take questions" during a virtual meeting with Democratic lawmakers, according to Fox News.
Last week, Politico reported that "many" people who work in the White House will either mute Biden or turn off live coverage of his public appearances because they're worried he'll take questions from reporters.
"I know people who habitually don't watch it live for that reason," one unidentified official reportedly said.
Biden — who has a habit of responding, sometimes angrily, to shouted questions following his public appearances — has repeatedly acknowledged that his aides have told him to stick to his prepared remarks.
Last week, he even worked the instruction into a post-Labor Day speech honoring labor unions. He told reporters during a White House news conference about the coronavirus in May:
"I'm not supposed to be answering all these questions. Now, I'm supposed to stop and walk out of the room here. I'm going to stop. But with your permission, I'm going to walk into the room because I want to say hello to all of you."In May, White House press secretary Jen Psaki admitted during a podcast interview that letting Biden field queries from reporters was
"not something we recommend. In fact, a lot of times we say, 'Don't take questions.' He's going to do what he wants to do because he's the president of the United States."
Reader Comments
I strongly suspect that Biden's wife is his primary handler, but top military brass also have access to his programming codes.
The Manchurian Candidate does, however, have some major distractions from the truth. In that movie, the mind-control was effected by Communist torture techniques to plant a communist-controlled mole-assassin into American presidential politics. In reality, such mind-control can only be effected on young, impressionable children; you cannot mind-control a previously unprogrammed adult in this way. The idea that Russian or Chinese torture on adult soldiers could have created an adult assassin responding to trigger cues is simply not possible.
The movie ultimately demonstrates that Shaw's mother was his primary handler. A hint of this comes from the book: Shaw's mother incestually abused him from childhood. Indeed, a real case of mind-control assassination, such as Svali, Wendy Hoffman or Neil Brick, they are trained as assassins from the age of 2, or younger, when they are the most effective. No-one ever suspects a child of 2-7 years old capable of committing murder. The programming cues last a lifetime unless they are deprogrammed, as Sinatra's character did to Shaw.
The Manchurian Candidate was part obfuscation to divert attention and fault to the nasty communists, rather than the more obvious truth: established and influential cult families, such as Shaw's, utilise mind-control on their own children to effect political goals. You will notice that Shaw's mother is handler not only of her assassin son, but also her mind-controlled vice-presidential nominee husband. You can be guaranteed that Jill Biden is a major cog in the Biden puppetry machine.
DM, RIP!
Christian83 Infra: Yep. As we've discussed before, this has long been elder abuse.
RC
Wow. Almost childlike.
As much as I don't like him, this is past cruel now. The kindest thing to do is put him down.
How do people possibly support the Democratic party when they foist this senility on the population?
People around the world are simultaneity laughing at the Dem's and fearing what else could possibly come from their twisted administration.
If there is a Libertarian party in the U.S., perhaps it should be receiving some attention?
I lost hope after his own party and the media turned on Dr. Ron Paul.
It's a real good act.
Remember the old videos of Dubya doing gubernatorial debates compared to how he conducted himself in the WH? As a governor he was well spoken and quick with his answers. As president he was a complete dipshit. Cognitive decline? Doubt it. Playing a particular role to cater to your voter base and drum up support for the opposing party to keep this machine running? More likely.
"Is that a question Mr. president?"
... Well, look, I ah... I ah... I ah... am very excited to be running for the senate you see.. Got my butt wiped.... yep.. ahh
"We can do that Mr. President... surely we can"
RC