President Joe Biden fumbled through a speech about his economic legacy Tuesday, wrestling with his teleprompter, pulling out a wad of tissues to blow his nose, admitting his most “stupid” mistake and what he should have learned from Donald Trump.
Biden, who coughed repeatedly during his remarks, asked the audience at the prestigious Brookings Institution to forgive his cold as he tried to cement his economic legacy.
Outside the place where he spoke, dozens of protesters shouted ‘Genocide Joe’, in reference to his actions in the Middle East.
Inside, he faced a different struggle, even with the teleprompter, which went off 10 minutes into his 30-minute speech.
“They just cut me off… I lost power here,” he said, pointing to the teleprompter. It’s unclear if he reappeared, but the president rambled on. He had a printout of his speech on the podium.
And at one point, he took a tissue out of his suit pocket to wipe his nose, but he continued talking between coughs and clearing his throat.
He also admitted to a “stupid” mistake he made as president.
President Joe Biden paused during his economic legacy speech to blow his nose
Biden talked about the $1,400 stimulus payments that were sent to us during the first years of his presidency as part of COVID relief.
He did not put his signature on the checks, unlike Donald Trump, who made sure his name appeared on the stimulus checks sent in April 2020.
‘I learned something from Donald Trump. He signed checks for people for $7,400 because we approved the plan. And I didn’t do it. Stupid,” Biden said.
After Biden’s comments, Jared Bernstein, Biden’s top economic adviser, said the president was “joking.”
The White House described Biden’s speech as a historic event aimed at cementing his economic legacy. But it comes a month after voters rejected Biden’s vision for the country and elected Trump.
Polls showed voters were angry about inflation, which has led to high food prices. Biden’s low approval rating was attributed to anger over those issues. Many Democrats in Congress also lost on the economy, which is still recovering from the COVID pandemic.
During his first years in office, Biden was able to pass several economic bills through Congress, including the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act of 891 billion dollars.
But its effects have not been felt. And Biden argued that they could be present during Trump’s second term.
“Most economists agree that the new administration will inherit a fairly strong economy, at least for the time being,” he said.
Barack Obama made a similar argument when he campaigned for Kamala Harris. He said the strong economy felt during Trump’s first term was “my economy.”
President Biden also highlighted the creation of 16 million jobs during his administration, the most of any presidential term, the lowest average unemployment of any administration in 50 years, and the smallest racial wealth gap in 20 years.
“I learned something from Donald Trump,” President Biden said in his remarks.
Protesters gathered outside the Brookings Institution as President Biden spoke.
Jared Bernstein, Biden’s top economic adviser, said the purpose of the president’s speech was to “establish a set of benchmarks against which the incoming administration’s progress should be judged.”
“I mean, this is the incoming team, for the most part, ran hard against this economy, so it’s very possible that in a short period of time they’ll start making very different sounds about how they take ownership of these great results, and we “I wanted to make sure that we set the benchmarks that Biden’s economic agenda provided,” he told reporters during the daily briefing.
In his comments, Biden also gave some advice to his successor, suggesting that Trump scrap Project 2025 and stop his tariff threat.
And he warned that Trump could lead the country to an economic “disaster.”
The president-elect said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the United States from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders.
Trump also said he would also seek to impose additional tariffs on China, an additional 10% on all tariffs until they prevent the shipment of fentanyl to the United States.
Biden criticized him for the idea, calling it “a big mistake.”
‘Who do you think pays for this?’ he added.
He also had words of caution about Project 2025, the agenda that the conservative Heritage Foundation outlined for a second Trump term.
Trump rejected Project 2025 during the campaign, but some worry he may implement parts of it anyway.
“I pray to God that the president-elect scraps Project 2025, I think it would be an economic disaster,” he said.