Joe Biden’s secrets are coming out one by one. But no one was expecting this.
And Democrats can’t believe their eyes after this shocking photo of Biden was unearthed.
During a visit to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, President Joe Biden found himself in an unexpected and somewhat awkward interaction with a supporter of former President Donald Trump. The encounter occurred at a fire station where Biden had stopped to meet with first responders after honoring the 23rd anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
While mingling with the firefighters, Biden reportedly offered to trade hats with a man wearing a red Trump cap. The man, a Trump supporter sporting “Punisher” suspenders, wasn’t about to let the moment pass without a jab.
“I’ll give you my presidential hat,” Biden told him, highlighting the “presidential seal on it.” But the Trump backer wasn’t quite ready for a straight-up swap. Instead, he asked Biden to sign the cap, which the president obliged.
The exchange took an amusing turn when the man quipped, “Do you remember your name?” Biden, playing along, responded with humor. “I don’t remember my name,” the 81-year-old president said. “I’m slow.”
As the back-and-forth continued, the Trump supporter called Biden “an old fart.” The president laughed it off, replying, “I’m an old guy,” before the man doubled down, repeating, “You’re an old fart, right?” Biden then fired back with a quick retort: “I know you would know about that,” in reference to the man’s own age.
Things didn’t stop there. Biden remarked, “He reminds me of the guys I grew up with. There was always one in the neighborhood.” As the banter rolled on, Biden signed the hat and then asked the man for his Trump cap. The supporter, however, jokingly asked if Biden wanted his autograph in return. “Hell no,” the president said with a smile.
Amid the lively crowd, Biden briefly placed the red “Trump 2024” hat on top of the cap he was already wearing. “I’m proud of you now, you old fart,” the Trump supporter exclaimed, as the president moved away with a parting remark: “Just remember, no eating dogs and cats.” To this bizarre statement, the Trump supporter bizarrely replied, “They’re good,” comparing them to “Kentucky Fried Chicken.”
Footage of Biden briefly donning the Trump hat quickly made the rounds on social media, with the Trump campaign sharing the clip. Later, the White House confirmed the lighthearted moment.
Andrew Bates, White House senior deputy press secretary, addressed the situation on X (formerly known as Twitter), saying, “At the Shanksville Fire Station, @POTUS spoke about the country’s bipartisan unity after 9/11 and said we needed to get back to that. As a gesture, he gave a hat to a Trump supporter who then said that in the same spirit, POTUS should put on his Trump cap. He briefly wore it.”
Thanks for the support, Joe! pic.twitter.com/GeNDXWEHVi
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) September 11, 2024
Despite the White House’s attempt to frame the exchange as a bipartisan moment, many Trump supporters were quick to poke fun at the incident.
One post from the Trump War Room account joked, “Kamala did so bad in last night’s debate, Joe Biden just put on a Trump hat,” while also sharing footage of Biden putting on the hat.
The peculiar exchange happened after Biden had already shared a more solemn moment earlier in the day. He had participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial for United Airlines Flight 93, the plane brought down by passengers after it was hijacked on 9/11. Shanksville, where the crash occurred, is in Somerset County, a deeply Republican area where more than 77% of voters supported Trump in the 2020 election.
Interestingly, Trump himself had commented on his signature hats during a recent debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. The former president joked about sending her a “Make America Great Again” hat, claiming she had shifted her views to align more with his. “In fact, I was going to send her a ‘MAGA’ hat,” Trump quipped. “She’s going to my philosophy.”
Biden, who dropped out of the 2024 race in July, had long criticized Trump’s influence on American politics, particularly warning against what he saw as Trump’s threat to democracy. “Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal,” Biden said in September 2022, adding that “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”
You can watch the full exchange between Biden and the Trump supporter below:
NEW: Full exchange of the incident leading up to Joe Biden putting on a Trump 2024 hat.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 12, 2024
Biden: "Sure, I'll autograph [a hat]."
Man: "You remember your name?"
Biden: "I don't remember my name... I'm slow."
Man: "You're an old fart."
Biden: "Yeah, I'm an old guy... You would… pic.twitter.com/yQcCXmtzIZ
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