A viral video shows President Joe Biden appearing to make a joke about the devastating California wildfires that have left at least 10 dead and inflicted billions of dollars of damage on the Los Angeles region, leading to significant backlash on social media.
Fox News reported that Biden held a meeting on Thursday with multiple senior officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, to address the federal government’s response to the wildfires raging across Southern California. After announcing the administration’s plan to help California battle the wildfires and recover from the tragedy, Biden made a joke while giving Harris an opportunity to address the situation that has impacted her home state.
Biden said, “Madam Vice President, I know you’re directly affected. So you fire away, no pun intended.”
Sharing the video on social media, RNC Research wrote, “Is there something funny about this? Absolutely disgusting.”
Biden’s joke was quickly met with backlash by social media users on Thursday. Redstate writer Bonchie shared RNC Research’s video and tweeted, “WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS DUDE.”
Derek Hunter, a Townhall.com columnist, wrote, “Most of the time, @JoeBiden is just a mean, vindictive person (has been his whole career), but in this case I think this can be blamed on his senility.”
Libs of TikTok described Biden as “completely tone deaf,” while conservative commentator Steve Guest called the president a “jerk.” Ben Kew, a conservative journalist, suggested that a meeting focused on the government’s response to the massive wildfires devastating California was “probably not the time to be making puns.”
Stephen Miller, an editor for The Spectator, added, “Even Kamala at this point is like ‘You serious dude?’”
READ MORE: Videos/Pics: 5 killed, 179,000 under evacuation orders as wildfires devastate Calif.
Biden’s joke about the devastating California wildfires came after the president faced backlash on Wednesday for using a press conference with Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) and California fire officials to announce that his first great-grandson was born.
“Only one piece of good news: my son lives out here and his wife,” Biden said. “They got a notification yesterday that their home was probably burned to the ground. Today, it appears that it’s still standing; they’re not sure.”
“The good news is, I’m a great-grandfather as of today,” Biden added.
During Thursday’s briefing, Biden confirmed that the federal government will provide funding for all of the wildfire disaster response for the next 180 days, according to Fox News.
“That’s going to pay for things like debris and hazard material removal, temporary shelters, first responders’ salaries, and all of the safety measures to protect life and property,” Biden said. “I want to underscore, I told the governor and local officials: spare no expense. And we’re doing literally everything we can at the federal level.”