Joe Biden wandered off stage in the middle of a live TV segment as the befuddled host reached out to shake his hand then awkwardly attempted to close the segment and pitch to a commercial as the control room desperately tracked the president’s departure.
Biden appeared for an exclusive interview with “Deadline: White House” host Nicolle Wallace, the former communications director for 43rd President George W. Bush. The end of the interview did not go according to plan.
“Thank you,” said Biden, slowly pushing himself to his feet. Biden extended a hand toward Wallace, then awkwardly walked off stage – behind Wallace – as she continued the live segment. The control room first chose to track Biden’s movement with a wide shot, then after Biden was done walking behind Wallace switched to a tight shot of her face.
Biden was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972, and has thus been in politics – and presumably doing televised interviews – for approximately 51 years.
Watch Joe Biden hobble off MSNBC like a robot 🤣 pic.twitter.com/smkvSrE396
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) June 29, 2023
This week the White House admitted that Biden, 80, recently started sleeping with the aid of a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine the a spokesman admitted was necessary “to treat longstanding sleep apnea.”
Some have speculated the device could be a bid to help Biden’s voice during public events and speeches, as the White House physician once highlighted the octogenarian’s “throat clearing” and “coughing during speaking engagements” as areas of observation for future exams.
However, the CPAP machine could also be used to give Biden’s memory a boost, according to research put forward by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, which found the machines help patients “restore memory consolidation” if the problem was caused by “obstructive sleep apnea”:
“The most surprising result of our study, thus far, is the noticeable improvement in memory that CPAP patients experience,” said lead author Ammar Tahir of the Memory Laboratory in the department of psychology at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. “These results suggest the success of CPAP therapy in regenerating obstructive sleep apnea patients’ memory deficits.”
Biden has regularly seemed confused, angry, or frustrated during his interactions with reporters.
Earlier this week, after the release of a text message and photograph that seemed to indicate Hunter Biden was at his Delaware home with family when he threatened a CCP business contact with his father’s retribution, Biden snapped at a reporter who asked if he lied about his involvement with Hunter’s businesses.
