Throughout his time on the campaign trail, President Joe Biden found himself in a number of awkward and embarrassing moments. Now, it looks like that trend is continuing into his tenure in the White House.
Conservatives including Donald Trump, Jr. are drawing attention to a video clip in which Biden can be seen suggesting that not all members of some minority communities even “know how to get online.”
The remarks from Biden came during a town hall event hosted by CNN earlier this week. Speaking Tuesday, Biden was responding to a question from an audience member about “racial disparities” in the American health care system, particularly as vaccines for COVID-19 start being rolled out around the country.
“Is this a priority for the Biden administration?” the audience member asked, according to a transcript from the White House. “And how will the disparities be addressed? And that’s both locally and nationally.”
“I’d bet good money”
In response, Biden said addressing issues of racial inequality is his top priority, but that “the biggest part of it is access — physical access.” The president promised to get coronavirus vaccines distributed to even “neighborhoods that are hard to get to” using mobile units, but said another big problem is that “a lot of people don’t know how to register.”
“Not everybody in the community — in the Hispanic and the African American community, particularly in rural areas that are distant and/or inner-city districts — know how to use — know how to get online to determine how to get in line for that COVID vaccination at the Walgreens or at the particular store,” Biden said, according to the White House transcript. “So we’re also — I’ve committed to spend[ing] a billion dollars on public education to help people figure out how they can get in there.”
The comments from Biden prompted a snarky retort from his predecessor’s eldest son, who opined, “I’d bet good money that Joe Biden doesn’t know how to get online.”
I’d bet good money that Joe Biden doesn’t know how to get online. https://t.co/rXEyrtz5wb
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 17, 2021
Biden’s controversial comments
Of course, this is far from the first time the 78-year-old president has made cringe-worthy remarks on the topic of race. On the campaign trail, Biden took flak for declaring that “poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.”
“Wealthy kids, Black kids, Asian kids — no I really mean it, but think how we think about it,” Biden added after a pause, according to The New York Times.
Biden also made headlines after a 2020 radio interview in which he insisted that Black voters “ain’t Black” if they have trouble deciding whether to cast a vote for him or Donald Trump.
Those words led to sharp pushback from Republican Tim Scott, who is the first Black man to serve as a U.S. senator from South Carolina since Reconstruction. “Who in the heck does he think he is?” Scott asked during an appearance on Fox News. “That is the most arrogant, outrageous comment that I’ve heard in a very long time and I take offense to that.”
The post Biden takes flak for suggesting some members of minority communities don’t ‘know how to get online’ first appeared on Conservative Institute.
No comments: