In an address about economic issues on Wednesday in a suburban Maryland area, President Biden typed the number “eight” incorrectly shortly after claiming that his father “never went” to college.
“We have a thousand billionaires in America. You know the average tax rate they pay? Eight — E-I-G-H percent — 8%,” during a visit to the International Union of Operating Engineers’ facility in Accokeek, Maryland, less than 20 miles from the capital, Biden said.
The 80-year-old president’s spelling blunder brought to mind earlier humiliating political spelling gaffes, including when former Vice President Dan Quayle correctly spelled “potato” as “potatoe” during a spelling competition in 1992 for a 12-year-old student.
On Wednesday afternoon, House Republicans published legislation that would extend the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion as an apparent opening offer to Biden ahead of anticipated negotiations. The focus of Biden’s remarks was on denouncing such budget cuts.
The president also criticized Republicans who supported the “Make America Great Again” movement of former President Donald Trump for suggesting cutting the FBI’s budget due to alleged political bias, suggesting that it might be because the agency “maybe arrested some of them,” an apparent allusion to Capitol rioters on January 6, 2021.
As he spoke, Biden also provided dubious biographical details to demonstrate his relatability to the blue-collar population.
“My dad never went to college. My dad was a decent, honorable man who busted his neck,” the president remarked.
The York (Pennsylvania) Daily Record claimed in a 2020 story that Joe Biden Sr. spent one year studying at the elite Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, citing a 1941 newspaper item about his marriage to his mother.
