"God save the Queen, man."
Joe Biden concluded a recent speech in Connecticut, where he was advocating for more gun control, with this bizarre and baffling comment.
He said it in a sarcastic tone of voice and delivered it with a goofy grin. Was he mocking the Monarchy? Was he mocking the British?
For the British the words, "God save the queen is a solemn prayer, (albeit without the word "man" at the end) recited for centuries.
Does he know they don't have a queen anymore? Oh, that's right Biden turned down the invitation to King Charles III coronation. No one is sure what Biden meant by his off the cuff remark and the media didn't pursue it perhaps because they simply saw it as a benign comment of a senile old man one who needs to go to bed, he meant no harm by the comment or just doesn't know what he was saying.
He may have simply forgotten that Elizabeth II had passed away, just like he thought the late Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-IN was still alive at a White House event last September. Well, Joe, Britain now has a king, so the prayer is now "God save the king."
Britain crowned its new Monarch on May 6th, more than a month before Biden's gaffe. Tomorrow, July 10th, Biden will meet with King Charles the second on his way the NATO summit, which takes place in Lithuania. Biden will then head to Helsinki before heading home.
Biden pointedly didn't go to the coronation, sure there were rumblings that skipping it was a snub, but the lame defense the administration and the compliant media offered was: "President Dwight Eisenhower didn't go to the last coronation in 1953"so if its ok for Ike to skip it then its ok for Joe not to go even thought that was 70 years ago.
Britan is one of our oldest friends and allies You know the thing, the special relationship and all that but Biden was a no show. There's no way to spin that: it was a slight to our friend, and despite the stiff upper lip thing the British surely took offense.
Had former Presidents Trump or Bush been in office they would have gone. I think President Clinton would have gone. Although, I doubt Obama would have gone.
Britain is our number one ally; Biden should have gone.
In May Democratic Unionist Party lawmaker Sammy Wilson characterized Biden as "anti-British." He said that after Biden's remarks came to light about a month after his visit to Northern Ireland. The president said he had gone there "to make sure the Brits didn't screw around" with peace in Northern Ireland, and "Didn't walk away from their commitments" to the 1998 Goof Friday peace accord on the occasion of its 25th anniversary.
"If you believe that there should be a special relationship between the U.S. and the U.K., then at least show us some respect," Wilson told London's Evening Standard newspaper."
So, is Biden anti-British? At the very least, it's apparent he doesn't believe that there is a special relationship between the U.S. and U.K. For Biden, the U.K. is just another NATO member, another nation on the UN roster, somewhere between Ukraine and Uruguay.
Wilson added, "It's unbelievable and frightening to think as well that he is the leader of the free world."
Hear hear, indeed it is.
Biden sent a clear message, when he walked into the oval office after his inauguration and removed the Churchill bust.
Compare the treatment the British have received under Biden to the treatment they received from the last two Republican presidents. Trump described the U.S. relationship with Britain as the "highest level of special." His first press conference with a foreign leader was with then-British Prime Minister Thresea May, on Jan. 27, 2017, a week after his inauguration.
It was no accident or coincidence that he met with May so early into his term, he intended it to show the great importance of our friendship with Britain.
In February of 2001 George W. Bush just weeks after being sworn in hosted then Prime Minister Tony Blair at Camp David, describing Britain as "our strongest friend and closest ally." Blair stayed at the President's retreat, clearly a purposeful gesture to show the high value Bush placed on our friendship with Britain. Fast forward to today. What is Biden doing vis a vis Britain?
He opposed U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace from becoming the next secretary general of NATO, in favor of Ursula von der Leyden of Germany, the current President of the European Commission. Was it driven by an anti-British animus, or maybe just Biden's identity politics driven desire to install the first female secretary general of NATO. Perhaps a little of both.
Biden is probably not anti-British based on reason, or policy differences or national interest. Instead, the bias likely derives from his tribalistic nature, not unlike an old politician from the Richard J. Daley Chicago Machine.
He is naturally anti-British, because he believes or at least self identifies as Irish, so he clings to the belief and view that the British are hostile and alien. They are a different tribe.
Biden first arrived in Washington as a member of the senate in 1973 - at the time, there still existed a fashionable hostility for the British from Irish Americans. It has mostly died out, but apparently, he kept that bias. Another example of that tribalism came when Biden was running for president in May of 2020. He said to a black radio interviewer, "If you have trouble figuring out whether you are for me or Trump, then you ain't black."
Once people figure out their tribe, it is easier for them to figure out their politics. For Biden everyone belongs to a group, and they act accordingly, or at least predictably. Sure, there are areas of agreement, areas of mutual cooperation, and common interests, but everyone has a tribe to belong to. For Biden, he identifies as Irish. God save the queen man.
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