President Joe Biden answered a reporter’s question about the border crisis with a response about wearing masks on airplanes during a question and answer period with reporters on Thursday.
Biden shared the remarks at the end of his speech updating Americans regarding the nation’s assistance to Ukraine that included $800 million in additional security assistance and the announcement of a new refugee program to assist Ukrainians relocating to the U.S.
Joe Biden gets asked about Title 42 at the Southern border. Answers question about mask mandates on planes. Seriously, this man has full fledged dementia. What a total mess. pic.twitter.com/pV5RS7cWCb
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 21, 2022
“On Title 42, sir, are you going to consider delaying lifting Title 42?” a reporter asked.
“No,” Biden responded. “What I’m considering is continuing to hear from my, uh, my… First of all, there’s going to be an appeal by the Justice Department, because as a matter of principle we want to be in a position where if in fact it is strongly concluded by the scientists that we need Title 42, that we would be able to do that, but there has been no decision on extending Title 42.”
Title 42 is a Trump-era policy that allows Border Patrol to turn away migrants at the border to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Biden’s response addressed Monday’s legal ruling that ended the federal government’s travel mandate that required masks on airplanes.
The Biden Administration’s Department of Justice is appealing the ruling regarding the federal travel mask mandate. It is not appealing Title 42.
The White House was quick to send out a clarifying statement regarding the embarrassing mix-up.
“I want to clarify that, in comments at the conclusion of my remarks this morning, I was referring to the CDC’s mask mandate and there is no Department of Justice action on Title 42,” Biden said in the statement.
Despite the later clarification, many across social media were quick to criticize the odd conflation of two key policy issues facing the nation.
“I’m very excited to the inevitable fact checker to tell me what we all just saw in this clip isn’t what we actually saw,” XStrategies Senior Digital Strategist Greg Price tweeted.
I'm very excited to the inevitable fact checker to tell me what we all just saw in this clip isn't what we actually saw.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 21, 2022
It’s also not the first time Biden has confused issues. Earlier in his Thursday speech, the president slipped up in a potentially dangerous mix-up of words.
“We’ll continue to provide Ukraine the forces that they need, the weapons they need, excuse me, the equipment they need, their forces need to defend their nation,” he said.
The Biden administration has been careful to note funding is intended for security funding rather than for weapon funding.
BIDEN: "We'll continue to provide Ukraine the forces that they need, the weapons they need, excuse me, the equipment they need, their forces need to defend their nation." pic.twitter.com/zv91bLbrc6
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 21, 2022
Last month, Biden also publicly stated that “Putin cannot remain in power.” Both the president and the White House later clarified that Biden was not calling for regime change in Russia.
White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield later said, “It does not mean he’s articulating a change in policy.”
White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield says that Joe Biden's insistence that Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power" was "incredibly powerful" and expressed Biden's "moral outrage."
"It does not mean he's articulating a change in policy." pic.twitter.com/Fu8CFeWEfA
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 29, 2022