President Biden recently delivered remarks at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Conference in Washington, D.C., where he emphasized his support for unions and touched on plans to support the labor organizations.
However, Biden’s age and cognitive health have been drawn into question amid a gaffe from this speech that has gone viral. It would be one thing if this were a one-off event, but Biden’s term has been plagued with constant gaffes that have many Americans concerned about whether Biden has the mental acuity to serve as President of the United States.
RNC Research, a popular X account run by the Republican National Committee posted a clip of the gaffe, writing, “BIDEN (confused): “Instead of importin foreign products, I’m exporting fedurhhahh products!” He is NOT WELL!”
An official transcript of the speech didn’t even try to transcribe the word Biden used, which said, “Well, instead of importing foreign products, I’m exporting f- — their products, and we’re making those jobs American jobs, created here in America where they belong.”
It’s unclear if Biden was attempting to claim America was on track to becoming a net exporter of goods, but data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that that the U.S. still had a massive trade deficit in 2023. The Annual Goods and Services Trade Deficit, although it decreased by roughly 3 percent compared to 2022, remains at 2.8 percent of current-dollar GDP.
At other points during his speech, he attempted to draw on his Scranton, Pennsylvania, to relate to the union crowd, calling himself the most “pro-union president in history.” Biden said, “I was home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where I was raised, and I visited a — the place I used to live in, et cetera. I tell you what, my grandfather, Ambrose Finnegan, he’d be proud as hell I’m listed as the most pro-union president in history.”
Biden also touted his administration’s investment in infrastructure during the speech. “Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 51,000 new infrastructure projects have been announced so far, and we’re just beginning — roads, bridges, ports, airports, clean water systems, affordable high-speed Internet — all across America, installed by IBEW workers.”
Biden also took the speech as an opportunity to criticize former President Donald Trump, claiming he never “lifted a finger” to protect pensions for union workers. “Through my American Rescue Plan, I also enacted the Butch Lewis Act, the most pro-labor union worker law for retirees in 50 years. (Applause.) All we’re doing is protecting pensions for thousands of IBEW workers and others. The idea made — they made it hard for you to get it done is just — it blows my mind. But we made it happen, while my predecessor never lifted a finger to do hel- — any help. A matter of fact, he lifted a finger — he put a thumb on it,” Biden claimed.
“By the way, just parenthetically, you know how much — we have a thousand billionaires in America. You know what the average federal tax rate is for them? Billionaire — billion — not million, billion. 8.3 percent federal tax,” he added at one point in the speech.
However, this common Biden claim that billionaires only pay 8.3 percent in taxes has been repeatedly fact-checked. According to Verify, the 400 wealthiest American taxpayers actually pay an average federal income tax of roughly 23%.
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.
