Foreign news agencies weighed in on President Joe Biden’s performance after the deadly school shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. The shooter, Audrey Hale, posed a significant issue for the media and Democrats as a female, transgender shooter she did not fit the preferred narrative of the right-wing, white male shooter.
But it was President Biden’s first comments after the shooting that caused many to say that he humiliated himself and the nation.
“My name is Joe Biden,” the president said at the White House as the bodies of six innocent victims, three who were 9 years old, still laid in the school. “I’m Dr. Jill Biden’s husband, and I eat Jeni’s ice cream, chocolate chip. I came down because I heard there was chocolate chip ice cream. By the way, I have a whole refrigerator full upstairs. You think I’m kidding? I’m not.”
“And who are those good-looking kids back there?” he said before finally commenting on the murdered children and adults.
“Before I begin to speak, and the reason I spent a little time on the kids, I — I just want to speak very briefly about the school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee,” he said.
“You know, Ben and I have been doing this our whole careers, it seems. And it’s just — it’s sick. You know, we’re still gathering the facts of what happened and why. And we do know that, as of now, there are a number of people who are not going to — did not make it, including children. And it’s heartbreaking. A family’s worst nightmare,” the president said.
“And I want to commend the police who repo- — responded incredibly swiftly — within minutes — to end the danger,” he said before making the tragedy political.
“We’re monitoring the situation really closely — Ben, as you know — and we have to do more to stop gun violence. It’s ripping our communities apart, ripping the soul of this nation — ripping at the very soul of the nation. And we — we have to do more to protect our schools so they aren’t turned into prisons,” he said.
“You know, the shooter in this situation reportedly had two assault weapons and a pistol — two AK-47. So I call on Congress, again, to pass my assault weapons ban. It’s about time that we begin to make some more progress.
“But there’s more to learn. But I just wanted to send my concern and hearts out to so many parents out there. I’ve been to so many of these sites, as Ben knows, by — virtually every one.
“And one of the things you folks should — I know you do know, but you should focus on — you know, just like when — in the military — when my son was in Iraq for a year, other places, you — there’s so many members of the military coming back with post-traumatic stress after witnessing the violence and participating in it,” the president said.
“Well, these children, these teachers, they should be — should be focusing on their mental health, as well.
“And so I’m grateful — anyway, sorry to start off that way, but I couldn’t begin without acknowledging what happened. And now I’m grateful that all of you are joining us here today,” he said.
Fox News host Sandra Smith said, “John, we’ll jump back in here. Considering the moment, the school shooting that just happened, left three children dead, three adults dead, shooter’s dead and we were told he would be addressing this off the top.”
Her cohost John Roberts said it was “rather surprising.”
“I thought that a somber President Biden would have come to the podium here and addressed the school shooting,” the anchor said.
And even the foreign media was stunned.
“Jokes about ice cream and good-looking kids in the audience?” Sky News Australia host Rita Panahi said.
“Talk about being, being out of it. It’s almost as if he missed, like he literally missed the memo,” her guest Kosha Gada said.
“He needs so much direction,” the host said.
“The president of the United States is the leader of the Free World, and it’s beyond embarrassing, it’s beyond a joke,” another Sky News host Rowen Dean said. “We have seen what has happened under Joe Biden’s watch. He’s clearly on the path to some kind of senility. He’s clearly not often there, and this does have repercussions. We’ve seen the repercussions throughout the world.”
British politician Nigel Farage spoke on “Paul Murray Live.” Where he said “we should be angry” at the president’s lack of empathy but said “you can’t be angry at somebody whose mental faculties suggest he should not be holding any senior position at all, let alone as leader of the Free World.
“This guy is mentally incapacitated. He should not be there. So really, in some ways, I almost pity him rather than anger,” he said.
