Speaking on the one-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act, President Joe Biden, whose interactions with children have roiled social media over the years, suggested the children in the audience should speak to him about getting ice cream “because daddy owes you.”
Many social media users used the word “creepy” to describe Biden’s latest foray into addressing children.
“I want to say one thing to your children: I know some really great ice cream places around here, and daddy owes you,” Biden said. “Okay? So, talk to me afterwards.”
In July, Biden was labeled “creepy” by his critics after he nibbled on a small child before he departed Finland.
In June, the White House released a video insisting that Americans’ children collectively belonged to the nation instead of their parents. The video sparked fierce responses from Elon Musk and a host of conservatives.
The video featured the White House lit up in rainbow colors as President Biden intoned, “These are our kids. These are our neighbors. Not somebody else’s kids. They’re all our kids.”
“Our children are the kite strings that hold our national ambitions aloft,” Biden continued. “It matters a great deal how we treat everyone in this country. LGBTQ Americans, especially children: You’re loved, you’re heard, and this administration has your back.”
Musk, the SpaceX chief and owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, had a succinct and harsh response to the Biden administration’s claim: “You are the government. They are NOT your kids.”
Biden had insisted that the nation’s children belong to someone other than their parents before. In April, honoring the White House’s Teacher of the Year, Biden quoted her saying, “There’s no such thing as someone else’s child.”
“No such thing as someone else’s child,” Biden repeated. “Our nation’s children are all our children. As I often say, you teachers hold the kite strings that lift our national ambitions aloft. You really do.”
“By the way, I’d sit on the stand and it’d get hot. I got hairy legs that turn blonde in the sun. And the kids used to come up and reach in the pool and rub my leg down so it was straight and then watch the hair come back up again,” Biden claimed in 2019.
Biden’s children-related policies have also earned criticism from the Right. In June 2023, Biden signed a “historic” executive order ordering the Department of Health and Human Services to increase the capacity of Americans (including children) who identified as transgender to obtain sex-change surgeries.
The order specifically charged HHS to “work with states to promote expanded access to gender-affirming care.” That was included under the section “safeguarding healthcare and preventing LGBTQI+ Youth Suicide.”
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