President Joe Biden is certainly no stranger to committing embarrassing blunders that end up as news stories, but it’s usually because of something he said or did.
This time around, some poorly thought-out imagery in the background of a Thursday speech by the president quickly caught the attention of social media users. According to CNBC, Biden gave a speech on what the White House touted as an update on America’s “economic progress.”
As the president spoke Thursday at a steamfitters union hall in Springfield, Virginia, a sign behind the president’s podium read, “President Biden’s Blueprint For America.” Underneath that message, the sign read, “good jobs, lower costs, better pay.”
The problem, as noted by Christian Martinez, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s deputy press secretary, the images next to those phrases told a much different and sadder story.
“Did anyone in the Biden administration check the logos? Because that’s definitely an American worker working for less money,” Martinez tweeted.
Did anyone in the Biden administration check the logos? Because that’s definitely an American worker working for less money. pic.twitter.com/YnRdEFO8q6
— Christian Martinez (@C_RMartinez) January 26, 2023
Martinez hit the nail on the head. Obviously, the images were not meant to mean what it looks like they mean, but my goodness, what a giant “yikes” in the optics department. The images on its own very clearly looked like it depicted workers getting paid less in Biden’s America.
“Trust us, American workers, we know,” one Twitter user responded.
Trust us, American workers, we know. 😒
— JCE42 (@xXVesticlesXx) January 26, 2023
Biden’s full speech can be seen in the video below:
During his speech, the president seemed to have forgotten entirely about America’s energy crisis, sky-high grocery store bills, food shortages, and everything else bad happening with the U.S. economy in general. Instead, the president touted Thursday’s positive Gross Domestic Product news, which rose 2.9 percent.
“I’m not sure the news could have been any better — economic growth is up stronger than experts expected, 2.9 percent,” Biden told those in attendance at the union hall.
“I don’t think it’s unfair to say that this is all evidence that Biden economic plan is actually working,” the president added.
Biden also couldn’t resist taking a shot at House Republicans, especially those nasty “MAGA Republicans” he always hates on.
“MAGA Republicans in the House of Representatives are threatening to destroy this economy, this progress. Look, this ain’t your father’s Republican Party. It’s a different breed of cat,” Biden said.
In reality, American workers are still hurting, just as they were a year ago under Biden. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, real wages for workers declined from December 2021 to December 2022.
“From December 2021 to December 2022, real average hourly earnings decreased 1.1 percent, seasonally adjusted. The change in real average hourly earnings combined with a decrease of 0.9 percent in the average workweek resulted in a 2.0-percent decrease in real average weekly earnings over this period,” the BLS website noted.
Poor optics aside, Biden’s speech today will undoubtedly fall upon deaf ears, as hard-working, blue-collar Americans know darn well that there is absolutely nothing to brag about economically.
Let’s get a handle on the ridiculousness of the egg shortage crisis before we start talking about how great the economy is, OK?
Story cited here.
