President Joe Biden was slammed online after some commentators claimed he pushed aside U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to salute one of King Charles’ lord-lieutenants in Northern Ireland.
Biden landed in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Wednesday morning to begin a diplomatic trip to the United Kingdom and Ireland. After departing Air Force One, the president exchanged a few words with Sunak before Biden appeared to nudge him aside to salute one of the king’s representatives. Biden later sidled over to Sunak and put an arm around the prime minister’s shoulders.
The brief interaction set off jokes and astonishment online, with some people questioning whether Biden even understood who Sunak was at the time.
“Biden thought he was just a 7-11 worker,” said Stephen Miller, contributing editor to The Spectator.
Biden thought he was just a 7-11 worker. https://t.co/Ux2QPw52aa
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 13, 2023
“Biden pushes Rishi Sunak aside in Belfast.. Seems as if he didn’t realise who the UK’s Prime Minister was?” asked News18’s Shubhangi Sharma.
“During his trip to Belfast, Biden appears to not recognize Great Britain Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as he pushed him out of the way to salute the man next to him,” commented Trending Politics co-owner Collin Rugg. “How does the left expect this man to last as president for another 6 years?”
Biden and Sunak caught up later, having tea together at the president’s hotel before Biden left to deliver remarks at Ulster University. Officials on both of the leaders’ teams downplayed the meeting as something more social than official, according to The Washington Post.
Biden traveled to Ireland and the U.K. to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, a 1988 treaty meant to end decades of violence between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.
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“As a friend, I hope it’s not too presumptuous for me to say, but I believe democratic institutions established in the Good Friday Agreement remain critical to the future of Northern Ireland,” Biden said during his trip. “That’s a decision for you to make, not for me to make.”
He appeared to draw parallels between Northern Ireland’s struggles to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“I know better than most how hard democracy can be at times,” Biden said. “We in the United States have firsthand experience with how fragile even long-standing democratic institutions can be. You saw what happened on January the 6th in my country.”