President Joe Biden's self-proclaimed "gaffe-machine" reputation has often served as a source of misleading claims about his competencies as a public speaker.
Although his public speaking has been criticized recently, particularly comments made at a Maui community event following the wildfires, footage from other engagements has also been manipulated to make misleading aspersions about the president's state of mind.
In a viral TikTok shared recently, footage appeared to show the president incoherently rambling after being asked to describe America in one word.
The Claim
A TikTok by account 2024usa, posted on September 5, 2023, and viewed 827,000 times, showed U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls, a Texas Republican, asking Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to "describe America in one single word."
Nehls later states: "Well just a few weeks ago, this is how President Biden described America in one word."
The clip then cut to a clip of Biden saying: "I was in the foot— foot— excuse me, in the foothills of the Himalayas with Xi Jinping, traveling with him ... traveled 17,000 miles when I was vice president at the time. I don't know that for a fact."
The video returns to Nehls who asks Buttigieg "I bring this up to you, sir, I bring this up to you because you yourself questioned Donald Trump's mental state of mind in September of 2019, when you stated to CNN, I quote, 'If our presidency is not in good shape then our country is not in good shape.' Mr Secretary, I could not agree with you more."
The Facts
Most of this clip is taken from a 2022 House hearing on the bipartisan infrastructure law, during which Nehls misleadingly suggested that Biden had responded with garbled nonsense when asked to describe America in one word.
The representative shared a meme, printed onto a presentation placard, that joked that the president had said "AWDSMEAFOOTHIMAAAFOOTAFOOTWHSCUSEME."
Nehls would go on to make other disparaging comments about Biden's mental capacity.
The Biden quotes came from an April 2022 ceremonial event at the White House, marking Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation to the Supreme Court.
However, both Nehls and the TikTok clip fail to include Biden's one word answer: "Possibilities". The president was recalling speaking to Chinese President Xi Jinping. He briefly stumbled on his words before providing an answer.
A White House transcript of his comments states he said: "And, folks — (applause) — let me close with what I've long said: America is a nation that can be defined in a single word.
"I was in the foothi- — foot- — excuse me, in the foothills of the Himalayas with Xi Jinping, traveling with him. (Inaudible) traveled 17,000 miles when I was Vice President at the time. I don't know that for a fact.
"And we were sitting alone. I had an interpreter and he had an interpreter. And he looked at me. In all seriousness, he said, "Can you define America for me?" And I said what many of you heard me say for a long time. I said, 'Yes, I can, in one word: possibilities.'"
The Ruling
Misleading Material.
Although Biden did slip on his words while recounting how he would describe America in one word, this viral clip on TikTok misrepresents the president's comments.
The clip does not show the president's answer ("Possibilities") which was not included in the TikTok nor footage from the House which the TikTok used.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
Uncommon Knowledge
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