Watch: 30 Seconds of Dead Air, Mumbling as Biden Calls Into NBC During Thanksgiving Parade

By George C. Upper III November 25, 2022 at 12:38pm

This could’ve been kind of cute. Instead, it was just … awkward.

Mind you, I’m not sure that “cute” is what the leader of the free world should be aiming at, even on Thanksgiving. But I’d take it over whatever this was:

Joe Biden’s phone call during the #MacysThanksgivingDayParade went as you would expect… pic.twitter.com/2XEZDtjupr

— THAT SOUTHERN DUDE (@TSDmemes) November 24, 2022

Were I working in the Biden White House, I think I’d be scrambling around right now trying to find some other news to put out there to distract the American people in hopes that they’d forget this ever happened.

Someone in the administration, however, decided that wasn’t the direction to go, perhaps because they realized that, since this occurred on NBC, the number of people who actually saw it was probably, shall we say, limited.

So here’s how the official White House transcript recorded this exchange:

“Hello, Mr. President? I don’t think I can hear you. Can you hear me, Mr. President? (Technical difficulties.) Hello? Happy Thanksgiving. Mr. President, are you there?”

Yeah, he was there — but I’m not sure he was there, there, if you follow my drift.

Do you think Biden was having trouble using the phone?

After some silliness in which President Joe Biden credited NBC meteorologist Dylan Dreyer for the good Thanksgiving Day Parade weather — bet she’s never heard that one before — the phone call actually got a little weirder, if that was even possible.

“And just like millions of Americans, you guys watching the parade, what do you want to say to everyone watching right now?” Dreyer asked.

“We just want to say we’re so grateful for the people, for this opportunity, for the health that we have now in America,” first lady Jill Biden said. “And just Happy Thanksgiving.”

We’re grateful for the health that we have now in America is something the first lady of the United States actually said out loud. Did someone forget to tell her that she could write her comments down in advance and just read them into the phone? I hope that’s the case, because the alternative is that those were her prepared remarks.

Among other agenda items for the day, the first lady said they were planning to “just feel gratitude for our family.”

Uh … OK. Nice that you have time to plan out your feelings, I guess?

Dreyer at least had the good sense to post on social media just a gif of the interview, without sound.

So glad the call went through!! https://t.co/KT3nviPfWl

— Dylan Dreyer (@DylanDreyerNBC) November 24, 2022

I assume the plan was to show the nation that the president and his wife — vacationing in Nantucket for the holiday — are “just folks.” Or something along those lines. And maybe this is what Joe and Jill Biden think everyday Americans sound like.

But I bet Dreyer is hoping Al Roker recovers and gets back to work. Quickly.

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Tags:

Interview, Jill Biden, Joe Biden, NBC, Politics, Thanksgiving, U.S. News

George C. Upper III

Contributing Editor

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George Upper is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Western Journal and was a weekly co-host of "WJ Live," powered by The Western Journal. He is currently a contributing editor in the areas of faith, politics and culture. A former U.S. Army special operator, teacher and consultant, he is a lifetime member of the NRA and an active volunteer leader in his church. Born in Foxborough, Massachusetts, he has lived most of his life in central North Carolina.

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George Upper, is the former editor-in-chief of The Western Journal and is now a contributing editor in the areas of faith, politics and culture. He currently serves as the connections pastor at Awestruck Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is a former U.S. Army special operator, teacher, manager and consultant. Born in Massachusetts, he graduated from Foxborough High School before joining the Army and spending most of the next three years at Fort Bragg. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in English as well as a Master's in Business Administration, all from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He and his wife life only a short drive from his three children, their spouses and his grandchildren. He is a lifetime member of the NRA and in his spare time he shoots, reads a lot of Lawrence Block and John D. MacDonald, and watches Bruce Campbell movies. He is a fan of individual freedom, Tommy Bahama, fine-point G-2 pens and the Oxford comma.

Birthplace

Foxborough, Massachusetts

Nationality

American

Honors/Awards

Beta Gamma Sigma

Education

B.A., English, UNCG; M.A., English, UNCG; MBA, UNCG

Location

North Carolina

Languages Spoken

English