In a Wednesday interview, Vice President Joe Biden said he forgot the name of Texas Secretary of Defense and called him” the black man.”
The 81-year-old leader made the obvious blunder while highlighting his habit of appointing black people to state positions throughout his second term in office during a Wednesday meeting with Black Entertainment Television, The New York Post reported. He has been facing calls from Democratic leaders, Hollywood stars, and media personalities to fall out of the 2024 presidential election.
” It’s all about treating people with dignity”, Biden said. ” And it’s about making sure that look…For case, look at the temperature I’m getting because I named a, uh, the secretary of defense — the black person”.
” I named Ketanji Brown, I mean, because of the folks I’ve named”, Biden added in reference to Supreme Court Associate Justice , Ketanji Brown Jackson.
According to several reports, it was unclear whether the president referred to his black secretary of defense as” the” or” a” when describing him as a” the.” But, Biden’s apparent blunder during Wednesday’s meeting with Black Entertainment Television immediately led to censure on social media.
One social media users tweeted,” Let’s see how the Biden dead-enders flip this one”, while another person warned,” A POTUS who may remember the name of his SecDef — and instead calls him’ the black male ‘ — is not mentally prepared to be in charge of 5, 000 atomic weapons”.
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On the other hand, some social media users defended Biden’s response. One person on social media wrote,” I believe people are misinterpreting this tape. If you listen carefully, Biden seems to state’ the secretary of defense, a dark man’ no’ the dark man’, and the context is he’s listing his dark appointees”.
Biden’s first appearance in an interview on Wednesday was when he appeared to forget the name of his defense secretary. The New York Post reported in 2021 that Biden allegedly forgot Austin’s name at a White House event, which caused the president to refer to him as” the guy who runs that outfit over there.”
While announcing the nomination of two female generals for U. S. military combatant leadership roles, Biden said,” And I want to thank the sec — the, the, ah former general. I keep calling him general, but my, my — the guy who runs that outfit over there”.
Biden continued,” I want to make sure we thank the secretary for everything he’s done in order to put what we just discussed into practice.” And for recommending these two women for promotion”.
