Lame-duck President Joe Biden’s attempt to shore up his controversial legacy at the Brookings Institution Tuesday was derailed by technical difficulties and mental freeze-ups — a final nail in the coffin as Biden bumbles through his final weeks in office.
“One of the things that’s going on here — they just turned off my… I lost electricity here, anyway,” a confused Biden said when his teleprompter malfunctioned ten minutes into the speech.
The 82-year-old president shuffled through paper notes to stumble through his prepared remarks while pausing to blow his nose, fighting a noticeable cold.
Biden was attempting to paint an optimistic picture of the economy he’s handing to President-elect Donald Trump.
“Most economists agree the new administration is going to inherit a fairly strong economy, at least at the moment,” he said between coughs. “It is my profound hope that the new administration will preserve and build on this progress.”
Biden's teleprompter goes out and he immediately malfunctions: "I lost the electricity here" pic.twitter.com/aMoo10nWPZ
— Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) December 10, 2024
Critics immediately blasted Biden’s appearance, calling it a “train wreck” and said his claims of leaving Trump with a strong economy were false. They pointed to persistent inflation and the expensive failures of the Biden administration to implement his signature infrastructure programs.
The $42.5 billion wasted on “Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program” has particularly drawn criticism.
“Three years and $42 billion later, not one person has been connected to the internet under the BEAD program,” Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., pointed out.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr added there “hasn’t been a single shovel’s worth of dirt that has even been turned towards connecting people.”
The speech grew more animated toward its conclusion, with Biden shouting, “If we don’t lead the world, who will? Not a joke, I’m not being wise guy… Who pulls Europe together? Who tries to pull the Middle East together?”
The event was marked by protests outside, with far-Left demonstrators holding “Stop Arming Israel” banners and chanting “Genocide Joe” while waving Palestinian flags.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-I.A., has already urged incoming Trump administration officials Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to review the infrastructure program’s funding through their Department of Government Efficiency.
Ernst said that, despite the Biden administration spending billions of taxpayer dollars over three years, there was zero progress on broadband infrastructure and government-supplied electric vehicle charging stations.
“Three years later, just 17 EV stations are completed and not a single person — not one — has been connected to the internet yet,” she said. “It’s time to pull the plug.”
Biden was accompanied by Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-P.A., and Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su at the Brookings event, which may be one of his final major speeches before leaving office in January.