Watch: Biden Raises Eyebrows with Bizarre Comment About Michigan's Lt. Governor
I get it: Garlin Gilchrist II is a tall man.
He’s the kind of fellow who probably got called “big guy” a lot — although nowadays, one imagines he gets referred to as “Mr. Lieutenant Governor” more often than that.
Everyone deserves to have a place they call home. Grateful to have @SecFudge in Detroit to discuss the investments we can make to support more affordable housing in our communities. pic.twitter.com/5Q9pV9Cqff
— Garlin Gilchrist II (@LtGovGilchrist) October 4, 2021
On Tuesday, however, President Joe Biden referred to the man first in line to Michigan’s governorship in head-scratchingly creepy terms.
Biden was in Howell, Michigan, to pitch his “Build Back Better” spending spree at Operating Engineers Local 324, according to the Detroit Free Press. There, he was joined by Gilchrist, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the majority of Michigan’s Democratic congressional delegation.
The pull-quotes from the speech were fairly uneventful.
Quick, tell me if you’ve heard lines such as this before: “This is a blue-collar blueprint for how we restore America’s pride,” Biden said. “Other countries are speeding up and we’re falling behind. We have to speed up the pace.”
Perhaps, too, you’ve heard rhetoric such as this, where Biden pitched the $3.5 trillion spending bill as a salve that would lay to rest America’s troubled history with race:
“Racial discrimination was a fact of life. We know how deep-rooted racism is in this country. We saw the Klan marching here in Howell … and again in recent years. It’s a never-ending battle,” Biden said, according to the Free Press.
“The challenge of the day is one of economic competition. Let’s learn from that history. Not because it was perfect — because Americans then did what we need to do now: Invest in ourselves to show the world that American democracy works.”
This was a pro forma Biden speech, the kind he too often gives in his sleep. The problem with that is, when the president has to stray from empty platitudes, you get moments such as this shout-out to Gov. Whitmer and Lt. Gov. Gilchrist:
After introducing Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Joe Biden thanks the lieutenant governor, who “covers her in every way, both in terms of physically, and mentally, and every other way.” ? pic.twitter.com/B4HEr4uGQz
— Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) October 5, 2021
“And, of course, it’s great to be here with my friend — we’ve become friends — an outstanding governor, one of the best governors in the United States of America,” Biden said. “And her lieutenant governor, who covers her in every way, both in terms of physically, and mentally, and every other way.”
Well, where to begin?
It’s never a good idea to say anyone with a Y chromosome “covers” a woman “in terms of physically, and mentally, and every other way.” That’s doubly true when it comes from a man whose campaign for president faced early trouble over his own history of — we’ll put this charitably — violating women’s personal space in public repeatedly.
Joe Biden Is Really Bad at Understanding Personal Space https://t.co/iXLpVOAHjT pic.twitter.com/MaDRlHqapM
— Lonely Quotes (@FallingAngelsR) November 8, 2020
Biden: It’s Once Again Safe To Violate Women’s Personal Space @allahpundit pic.twitter.com/ipkgTRNz2E
— David Deeble (@DavidDeeble) May 14, 2021
Beyond the creepy implications of what Biden was saying, it’s worth pointing out this wasn’t his most coherent speech ever. That’s saying something.
What he said! pic.twitter.com/16cBTiOnl7
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) October 5, 2021
Churchill + MLK x Reagan pic.twitter.com/fWqr5OuXY9
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) October 5, 2021
Neither of the following bits — posted by Tom Elliott, founder of media-clip provider Grabien — is improved much by context.
In the first, Biden is trying to explain that building charging stations in the 2020s is just like building gas stations in the 1920s, inasmuch as people think the idea is crazy. (Those gas stations in the 1920s, it’s worth noting, didn’t put “20,000 gallons of gasoline under the ground” as part of a government subsidy made possible by a $3.5 trillion spending package.)
In the second clip, he’s talking about how China is betting against us — “not a joke,” he said repeatedly — because their leaders believe democracy is too inefficient.
Weird though those clips may be, it still has nothing on a man covering Gretchen Whitmer “in terms of physically, and mentally, and every other way.”
What did he mean? Who knows — other than it sounds icky. Next time Biden’s up in Michigan, however, I have a suggestion for him when he describes the 6-foot-8 Gilchrist: Just stick with “big guy.”
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