(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Before his landslide victory in South Carolina’s Democratic primary on Saturday, President Joe Biden released a video in which he blatantly pandered to black voters while promoting ethnic stereotypes.The video was filmed during a recent visit to Raleigh, North Carolina—anticipated to be a key swing state in the 2024 election.
Biden, along with Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper, stopped at Cook Out, a North Carolina-based fast-food chain, before meeting with local Wake County school administrator Eric Fitts and his two teenage sons, Christian and Carter.
Several local media stations covered Biden’s visit to the restaurant’s location on Falls of Neuse Road, reporting that Biden got a vanilla milkshake with chocolate syrup and Cooper got one with M&Ms.On Feb. 7, Biden’s handlers posted the video of his meal with the Fitts family to YouTube.“A few weeks ago, I stopped at Cook Out in North Carolina to grab some food and eat with Eric and his sons, Chrisitan [sic] and Carter,” said the caption.“From talking about student loan forgiveness to basketball and business club, I loved our conversations,” it continued.
“Carter, I hope my absence note to your school helped.”Then, on Monday, segments of the video were posted to Biden’s unofficial social-media accounts, where users quickly took note of some of the more problematic elements.
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In addition to talking to the teen boys about their future basketball aspirations, Biden also drew criticism for the menu choices.“Oh man, you got chicken fingers. You got the whole deal,” Biden told the Fitts sons before mentioning that he got a hamburger for himself.
TikTok personality James Jefferson posted a video suggesting that the president rethink his marketing strategy.
“Whoever your marketing person is at the White House now, fire them immediately,” he advised, wondering how such an idea came about. “Whoever told you to show up to a black family’s house with some fried chicken and some ice tea from a restaurant called the Cook Out?” Others on Twitter took shots at the president, one user noting that Biden was literally trying to buy the votes of black people with fried chicken.
“Remember to vote blue in November, like a good little demographic,” user @normposter wrote.Conservative influencer @KanekoaTheGreat called attention to Biden’s 1994 crime bill, using a viral video that juxtaposed an old Senate speech with images of Hunter Biden’s degeneracy.“Senator @JoeBiden was the architect of the 1994 Crime Bill that sent millions of Americans to prison for doing what his son is doing right here,” Kanekoa tweeted. “Biden wrote the crack laws targeting minorities.”
The embattled 81-year-old president, following a damning special counsel report last week that suggested he may be in the advanced stages of dementia, is desperately scrambling to contain the damage as both young and minority voters jump ship.
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He recently joined TikTok, a platform popular with younger generations, despite widespread concerns that China uses it to push propaganda and commit acts of espionage.
Some estimates, meanwhile, have a jaw-dropping 25% of black voters expressing support for Republican leader Donald Trump—a sharp departure following recent election cycles when the number of black Republicans was in the single digits.
The defection threatens to have a major impact in urban areas that Biden is relying on to deliver the swing states where he secured his 2020 victory.
The combination of his increased social-media presence, his growing dementia and his desperation to pander to minorities all but guarantees that more cringe-worthy moments lie in store for the 2024 campaign season.
Biden was famously slammed during his 2020 campaign for saying during an interview with black radio personality Charlamagne Tha God, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
The popular radio host has since expressed regret for his prior endorsement of Biden and has called on him to drop out of the 2024 race.
However, Biden was not the first candidate to commit a racially insensitive gaffe on Charlamagne’s radio show, nor to pander to black voters using food stereotypes.
Hillary Clinton did both in one fell swoop during a widely ridiculed 2016 appearance, when she responded to a question by claiming she carried hot sauce with her wherever she went.
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.