If you’re former President Joe Biden, where do you go to redeem your reputation?
I’m not sure there’s any place on this side of the afterlife that our 46th president can go for that, but I’m 100 percent sure where he doesn’t do it: at the national conference for the Advocates, Counselors, and Representatives for the Disabled, or ACRD.
Guess where Biden’s first big post-presidential soiree was?
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Biden appeared in the Windy City on Tuesday to address the national gathering of the ACRD to push for buttressing Social Security.
The question raises itself: Is Kamala booking his events now?
While a Biden spokeswoman told the paper that the former president “has been public for some time,” which includes remarks to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers recently and the National High School Model United Nations conference last month, this represented the first major post-presidential speech Biden has given.
“The vast majority of Americans, including many wealthy Americans, still support – thank God – Social Security, and very wealthy billionaires still support Social Security,” Biden said, according to Al Jazeera. “They may not rely on themselves, but they know – they know – Social Security deserves to be protected for the good of the nation as a whole.”
Biden also accused President Donald Trump of viewing Social Security from the vantage point of a “tech startup.”
“You’ve got to ask yourself: Why is this happening? Why are these guys taking aim at Social Security now?” Biden said.
Was this the perfect venue for Biden to speak?
“Well, they’re following that old line from tech startups. The quote is: Move fast, break things. And they’re certainly breaking things. They’re shooting first and aiming later. The result is a lot of needless pain and sleepless nights.”
Right. That was the line from friendly media outlets. Meanwhile, here’s what was making news on social media:
Joe Biden reminisces about his first time seeing the “colored kids” on the bus.
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) April 15, 2025
Yes, Joe Biden reminds us that when he was young, black people were “at the time called colored kids.” This was less of a red flag than people were making it out to be, since he was just pointing out the terminology of his youth — but it’s the kind of thing that the left would seize upon were it a Republican, and it’s also worth noting that when Biden could last be classified as young, it was during the fourth year of Titus Flavius Domitianus’ reign of Rome.
(Biden is on record as thinking of Domitianus as a “lying dog-faced pony soldier,” although his claim to have engaged in civil rights demonstrations against Titus’ reign has not been corroborated.)
He also went on to attack Republicans and Republican voters, always a good look.
As for the former: “Who in the hell do they think they are? I mean, just basic decency. Who do they think they are?” So sayeth the serial plagiarist and prevaricator who once told a mostly black audience during the 2012 election cycle that milquetoast Mitt Romney was going “to put y’all back in chains” and constantly accused an innocent dead man of drunk driving in an accident that killed his first wife and child.
As for the latter, he made a comment with echoes of Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” gaffe.
“We can’t go on like this with a nation as divided as we are. It’s never been this divided,” he said. “Granted, it’s roughly 30 percent, but it’s a 30 percent that has no heart.”
Biden: “Who in the hell do Republicans think they are? I mean, just basic decency. Who do they think they are?” pic.twitter.com/NQPwh9ySMm
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) April 15, 2025
Joe Biden just called MAGA voters heartless: “We can’t go on like this with a nation as divided as we are. It’s never been this divided. Granted, it’s roughly 30%, but it’s a 30% that has no heart.” pic.twitter.com/EWg1eDSrUL
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) April 15, 2025
Aside from the gaffe-tastic nature of the “colored kids” remark — which sounded better in context, but was non-ideal coming from Captain “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black” — this is prima facie ridiculous stuff from Biden, a man who was losing badly in the polls to Trump before he got out of the race to make way for a woman who lost the popular vote to Trump, albeit with a margin that was slightly less terrible than it would have been with Joe.
It’s also worth noting who was happy to see Joe Biden back on the national stage and who was not. First, who was not: His own party. From CNN, reporting on the speech before it was given:
Joe Biden has been hankering to do more. Many leading Democrats across the country — including some former top aides and close allies, who note they’re sad to say it — are desperate for the former president to stick to a quiet retirement.
But Tuesday in Chicago, Biden waded into one of the most charged political fights set off by President Donald Trump. The first big public speech of Biden’s post-presidency focused on protecting Social Security and comes as many Democrats stage a national day of action against feared cuts to the program, with protests planned across the country.
It’s an odd spot for someone who was the leader of the free world less than 100 days ago, and for those who have been trying to sort out what to say and do about a man they feel affection for but blame in part for the situation they’re in now.
Asked by CNN about hearing from the former president since January 20, one longtime supporter and donor said only this: “No. Thank God.”
Meanwhile, who seems happy about Biden’s return to the spotlight? The White House, of course, where press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that she “thought his bedtime was much earlier than his speech tonight.”
However, Leavitt also noted the whole problem with the premise behind Biden taking up the maintenance of Social Security as his post-presidential pet cause:
During the White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to former President Joe Biden’s first public address on Tuesday since leaving the White House.
READ MORE: https://t.co/W1YmEosXnr pic.twitter.com/cxpX44P5BF
— The National Desk (@TND) April 15, 2025
“Let me make it very clear ahead of former President Biden’s remarks,” Leavitt said. “President Trump is absolutely certain about protecting Social Security benefits for law-abiding, tax-paying American citizens and seniors who have paid into this program.”
This kind of puts the lie to the entire purpose behind Biden’s speech: There is no assault on Social Security by the Trump administration or the Department of Government Efficiency. The only people who are losing benefits are either 1) not legally entitled to them or 2) dead.
Beyond this, note again Biden’s appearance in the clip above. This is him, rested up, delivering a speech before the ACRD conference. This mumbling, barely-sentient lump of pellucid flesh was, less than a year ago, trying to convince America he still had it in him to do one of the most exigent jobs on the face of planet earth. Yet, he can barely stumble through his first major appearance off the world stage — at an event for the Advocates, Counselors, and Representatives for the Disabled, of all places?
Why, for the love of Pete, would you take a single thing this man says seriously when he avouched to the world he was competent to spend another four years in the White House?
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