President Joe Biden was accused by conservative critics of being tone-deaf for using his first public appearance since the Nashville school shooting to make jokey, lighthearted comments instead of immediately addressing the massacre.
Three children and three adults were killed at The Covenant School on Monday when a 28-year-old attacked the building dead by the police. First Lady Jill Biden and the White House called for action against gun violence when the news broke, but the president’s first chance to personally address the shooting on camera came when he appeared at the Small Business Administration Women’s Business Summit in the East Room.
The event began with upbeat remarks from SBA Administrator Isabella Guzman, and Natalie King, CEO and Founder of Dunamis Clean Energy Partners. Biden took the lecturn after their intros, and he started by humorously referring to one of his favorite woman-founded businesses.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. My name is Joe Biden. (Laughter.) I’m Dr. Jill Biden’s husband. (Laughter.) And I eat Jeni’s Ice Cream, chocolate chip. (Laughter.) I came down because I heard there was chocolate chip ice cream. (Laughter.)
By the way, I have a whole refrigerator full upstairs. (Laughter.) You think I’m kidding, I’m not.
Biden also led his appearance by shouting out the children attending the event. After about two minutes of a lighthearted opening, Biden turned serious. He noted that the reason he spoke about children at the outset was because they were at the top of his mind following the tragedy in Nashville. The president went on to denounce the shooting and renew his call for Congress to ban assault weapons.
Fox News took Biden’s remarks live at the time, and Sandra Smith and John Roberts were both surprised at Biden for not addressing the shooting right off the bat. The network acknowledged Biden’s subsequent comments, though the president came under fire for not taking a more somber demeanor and addressing the attack first and foremost.
“There’s no way to talk about something like this except to say that for all of us who are parents, what we dread every day is the news about the health and life of our children,” Chris Christie told Fox. “And so there’s no room to joke in that circumstance at all. And certainly not from the President of the United States.”
Biden’s remarks were a recurring topic in the fallout of the shooting, for on Tuesday, Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade said the president blew it by first telling jokes about ice cream.
“Just absolutely ridiculous,” Kilmeade said. “I mean, if anyone should have the instincts at 80 years old of what to say, what not to say, it’s that.”
Christie and Kilmeade were not alone in their criticism:
Watch above via Fox News.
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