President Joe Biden paused to warn cancer survivors not to jump from the balcony as he delivered remarks on Monday as part of his Cancer Moonshot initiative.
Biden’s comments, which he delivered in Boston, came on the 60th anniversary of former President John F. Kennedy’s famous Moonshot speech — in which he committed the United States to reaching the moon: “This country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them … We set sail on this new ocean because there is new knowledge to be gained … and used for the progress of all people.”
In his remarks at the JFK Presidential Library, Biden outlined his ambitious plan to cut the cancer death rate in the United States in half over the next 25 years.
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President Biden to cancer survivors on balcony: "Don't jump from up there, ok?" pic.twitter.com/wQcg786UgF
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“I want to thank all of you, the cancer patients, survivors, caregivers — and don’t jump from up there, okay?” Biden said, gesturing toward the balcony as he spoke.
Biden has issued similar warnings in the past, inexplicably warning someone who has given no indication that they intended to jump from wherever his attention was directed.
“Don’t jump!” he yelled, apparently at the photographers who were on an elevated stage nearby, while posing for a photo with American Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
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Biden used the same joke last March during a visit with American soldiers stationed outside Ukraine earlier this year, telling members of the Army’s famed 82nd Airborne Division — who specialize in air assault operations — not to jump.
“You are the finest fighting force in the world and that’s not hyperbole,” Biden said to the troops as he sat alongside them to eat. “Don’t stop eating because of me.”
“Don’t jump. You guys are used to jumping. Don’t jump. Anyway, thanks for letting me come to say hello to you all,” he said a bit later, turning to a more serious topic and adding, “You know, we’re a unique country in many ways. And we are the only country, the only country in the world not organized based on geography, ethnicity, raced or anything else. We’re based on idea. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all women and men are created equal. Sounds corny, it’s the truth of who we are.”