The kids are not all right, according to President Joe Biden.
While traveling through rural towns “in the west,” Biden said on Thursday, it’s become commonplace to see insults on billboards and little kids flipping the bird at him when he passes by.
“I’d see big signs, Trump signs that in the middle say ‘F Biden,'” he said, prompting an audible groan from his audience, “and having a little kid standing with his middle finger, 7 years old, 8 years old.”
“Oh I promise, it happens all the time,” he added.
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The Democrat’s track record around children is already less than stellar, with viewers of his event in Philadelphia noticing his extremely creepy face-rubbing of a young girl standing by him on stage. He’s been called out by Republicans for sniffing babies and girls, a pattern of behavior that the White House has downplayed or chalked up to an informal style of decades past. However, the president’s handsy touch has gotten him in trouble before.
During the run-up to the 2020 election, Democrats became defensive over Biden’s posturing around women over the years, giving public, unsolicited shoulder massages during ceremonial events.
Lucy Flores, a Democratic politician in Nevada, went public the prior year when she shared a story about waiting with Biden in 2014 before a local rally.
“I felt two hands on my shoulders. I froze. ‘Why is the vice president of the United States touching me?’” she wrote, the AP reported. “He proceeded to plant a big slow kiss on the back of my head.”
After he won, Biden’s mannerisms were largely brushed aside by allies who shrugged off fears that voters would punish the 80-year-old for giving off “creepy uncle” vibes.
As Politico noted, the divide on Biden’s behavior is generational. Younger voters, more outspoken on issues like sexual harassment, have abandoned the president in droves as he prepares for a political knife fight against former President Donald Trump. Recent polling shows his level of support among 18-to-29 year olds sits far below where it was four years ago, driven mainly by his stance on the Israel-Hamas war and immigration.
“Young people today have clear concerns about where our country is headed,” said Setti Warren, the director of the Insitute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School, in a news release. “From worries about the economy, foreign policy, immigration, and climate, young people across the country are paying attention and are increasingly prepared to make their voices heard at the ballot box this November.”
That effect trickles down to Generation Alpha, the youngest Americans set to follow Gen Z into the voting booth. A dispiriting economy, hobbled by high-interest rates and soaring prices, leaves families feeling the effects and, in turn, placing the blame on the Biden administration. So as hard as his handlers may try to shield both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris from the churning antipathy their governing has created among voters, it’s come as no shock to Biden to see protests everywhere he goes, even his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania.