Twitter users have lashed out a “horrible incident”, in which US President Joe Biden’s press office staff quickly removed the press when POTUS said he would take questions at a campaign event in Saginaw, Michigan.
"They not even trying to hide it anymore that he can only speak when he has a script in front of him," one user wrote in a post.
Another user pointed out that the 46th US president “looked totally lost and beyond feeble in Michigan” and that “his handlers knew they had to get people away ASAP.”
“All you need to do is look at Blinken’s face when Joe speaks anywhere near a camera. That face says it all. He’s praying to god, jeebus and all the saints that Joe doesn’t malfunction. Less stressful to just shut him off from the press,” one more web surfer noted, referring to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Other users wrote that Biden’s team is “afraid to let the man talk as they should be” and that they “already know anytime Biden speaks it's going to be bad.”
At Biden’s campaign stop in Michigan, the US president visited a Victorian mansion owned by members of the Saginaw City Council and Saginaw Public Schools Board of Education.
POTUS stood on the porch at the mansion with his back to reporters and could be heard saying, "Can I take a couple questions?"
However, members of Biden’s team immediately started raising their arms and walking to journalists, loudly repeating, "Thank you, press, back to the cars."
The incident comes as the 81-year-old Biden faces serious questions about his age and mental acuity as he continues his campaign. The latest NBC News national poll showed that at least three-quarters of voters, including half of Democrats, admit that they have concerns about Biden's mental and physical health, which could prevent him from running.