Fox News host Jesse Watters has linked President Joe Biden's love of ice cream to Alzheimer's disease.
Watters made the comments after the president spoke to reporters while eating ice cream after taping a segment for NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers in New York City on Monday.
"You know who lights up for ice cream? Children and the elderly. There's a reason caregivers deliver ice cream to their patients in nursing homes," Watters said on his show Tuesday night.
He explained that the Alzheimer's Association says ice cream is "a favorite for people with diminished faculties." Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia and has no cure.
Watters attempts to tie eating ice cream to Alzheimer’s pic.twitter.com/L5RVxJUU1y
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 28, 2024
Biden's age and mental fitness has come under scrutiny as he campaigns for re-election, with some voters viewing the 81-year-old as too old to serve a second term.
"Ice cream has the power to immediately elicit soothing feelings at the very first taste of a single spoonful," Watters said, quoting the association's comments about the "power" of the treat.
"It erases all the negative feelings related to the frustration and continues to stimulate pleasure receptors in the brain with every new scoop," he said. "Now, obviously, I'm not diagnosing Biden with Alzheimer's, but you see what's going on here.
"They clap when he puts his sunglasses on. They treat him for ice cream to make him happy. He's got his little Corvette, his toy car that he's so proud of that he keeps his special folders next to.
"No one can take those folders. Those are my folders. He's a child. He copies homework. He lies, falls asleep, doesn't listen. Joey has his aviators, mint chip and his Hot Wheels, and he's happy. Are we really going to re-elect this guy America?"
Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment via email.
Many social media users mocked Watters' comments.
"It takes a special kind of alpha male to be scared of eating ice cream," one person wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
A different person joked: "I'm devastated to find out that my Ben and Jerry's New York Super Chunk Fudge addiction indicates my pending Alzheimer's diagnosis."
Another wrote: "Lots of different foods elicit a pleasure response for people at all ages. Wtaf? I feel bad for ice cream now, it's being stereotyped by complete morons."
And another wrote that Watters "attempts to [sound] like some sort of medical professional there and fails miserably."
Update 2/28/24, 6:00 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
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