In yet another remarkable screw up, President Joe Biden referred to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin as “the black man.”
Biden was being interviewed on Black Entertainment Television (BET) as part of a segment called Black America Votes when he made the comments.
Attempting to secure a demographic which has slowly shifted towards Republican challenger Donald Trump, Biden highlighted the number of Black appointees within his administration.
“It’s all about treating people with dignity,” he said. “For example, look at the heat I’m getting because I named a, uh, the secretary of defense, the Black man.”
He then appeared to confuse Secretary Austin with Supreme Court appointee Ketanji Brown Jackson. Incredibly, this was a gaffe within a gaffe, as he only referred to the first Black justice of the Supreme Court as “Ketanji Brown”.
The interview aired just hours after Biden’s COVID-19 diagnosis – something which even his staunchest allies will hope brings a period of error-free quiet.
Many saw Biden’s remarks as downright racist.
It’s quite astonishing that Biden is continuing to fight on at this point. Appearing on a Black television network, and then referring one’s Secretary of Defense as “the Black man”, appears incompetent if not insulting. For moderate Whites it’s perhaps equally off-putting. Biden has come under criticism for DEI appointees – something he seemingly tried to deny in the BET interview – but this incident, notwithstanding repeated concerns over his age, is unlikely to win over any voters.
Somehow, Biden remains in the race, and at this point it’s hard to know what the coup de grace to his campaign will be. However, referring to “the Black man” on a Black TV network, and then confusing him with another Black appointee who he couldn’t fully name, could perhaps be the beginning of the end.
