Joe Biden ridiculed for awkwardly saluting Italian PM Giorgia Meloni at G7 Summit
As Joe Biden has been facing immense backlash over his mental and physical capabilities following his re-election bid, the 81-year-old Commander-in-Chief on Wednesday arrived in Italy to attend the G7 Summit.
Last time, Biden attended a global event in France, where he landed to mark the D-Day 80th anniversary along with First Lady Jill Biden, sparking memes and mockery for committing blunders.
Biden meets Meloni
In his latest trip, Biden was captured while awkwardly saluting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as she welcomed him for the G7 summit on Thursday.
The G7, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US, is an informal group that holds annual meetings to talk about security and economic matters.
Shoofly making his way onto the stage where the Italian PM was waiting, Biden was the last foreign leaders to show up at the southern Puglia venue.
After a brief exchange of words, Meloni gestured to a frame bearing the G7 logo, which all the leaders in attendance had autographed using a marker.
Lifting his right arm over his eye, Biden saluted Meloni as he started to leave the platform.
Social media users swiftly shared videos of the awkward salutation, which went viral. While some considered Biden’s move as out of touch, others applauded him for trying to show his Italian counterpart some dignity.
Meloni, on the other hand, seemed unperturbed by the salute and carried on conversing with other international leaders throughout the conference. The G7 meeting’s deliberations centered on a number of urgent global concerns such as the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
Here’s what social media users have to say
Sharing the video on X, Italian-American Joey Mannarino quipped, “Did Giorgia Meloni join the US Military and no one told us? Why did Biden just salute her?”
Reacting to comment section, one X user wrote: “He saluted Hunter the other day also.”
“He doesn’t know where he is,” a second user chimed in, while another commented, “She had to tell him what to do. And still he gets lost. Such an embarrassment.”
One of the X users came to rescue Biden, stating that “I’m a huge Biden critic, but this is much ado about nothing.”
“He did it informally, like a thumbs up. I do it to coworkers from time to time, meaning. OK, got it.”