‘Sir. President. President Biden. Please, we didn’t hear from you the whole trip. Mr. President!’
Those were the shouts of a reporter for the 81-year-old president, who turns 82 on Wednesday, as he boarded Air Force One to mark the end of the last big turn on the world stage.
Instead of responding, the commander-in-chief silently boarded the presidential plane.
It capped a trip to Peru and Brazil – with a stop in the Amazon – where he answered most questions with a blank stare.
It cemented Biden’s “super lame duck” status on the world stage — as world leaders didn’t wait for him to make a photo op and the White House didn’t bother scheduling a press conference to help determine the future agenda.
The president returned to Washington DC after spending six days in South America attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, Peru and the G20 in Rio de Janeiro.
He became the first sitting US president to tour part of the Amazon rainforest – which became one of the many viral moments of the trip, when he appeared to ‘wander off’ into the Brazilian jungle.
President Joe Biden’s latest turn on the world stage left world leaders waiting and the press at a loss — so much so that as he boarded Air Force One to go home on Tuesday, a reporter could be heard yelling at him that he had to answer questions.
Second time’s a charm: President Biden took a second group photo at the G20 on Tuesday after missing another on Monday – while making world leaders wait for him at least twice during his trips to APEC and the G20
As he boarded the plane for his return flight, the media’s frustration was expressed by a journalist.
‘Sir. Chairman, happy early birthday. Would you like to talk to us for your birthday, sir?’ asked the reporter, a member of his traveling press pool. “As a gift to the press, would you please talk to us?”
‘Sir. President. President Biden. Please, we didn’t hear from you the whole trip. Mr. President!’ she shouted.
The latest plea came after reporters held up paper signs after his tour of the Amazon rainforest on Sunday to encourage him to speak.
Earlier that day, the native guides who took Biden, his daughter Ashley and his granddaughter Natalie around the Museu da Amazônia in Manaus, Brazil, drowned out the shouted questions by playing the maracas as Biden wrapped up his speech.
Online users expressed concern over this clip, which showed President Joe Biden ‘straying’ into the Amazon rainforest. In fact, he walked the same path he took to reach his podium position on Sunday afternoon
Perhaps it was Trump’s specter that kept Biden so close.
He ignored every Trump-themed question thrown at him during the trip, instead providing a one-word answer to a reporter about how he and Chinese President Xi Jinping – whom he met on the sidelines of APEC on Saturday – were planning to deal with the crisis. North Korean threat.
“Peaceful,” he muttered.
That was the first question Biden had answered since before Election Day.
Senior administration officials told reporters during background briefings that Trump simply did not come up during Biden’s meetings with world leaders.
The president-elect was not even mentioned when Biden and the leaders of South Korea and Japan discussed North Korea, a White House official claimed.
Trump has struck up a bizarre friendship of sorts with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
While Biden avoided questions from Trump, he also declined to discuss his decision, first reported Sunday, to allow Ukraine to attack Russian territory using long-range weapons.
He looked blank on Tuesday when asked again whether he would allow Ukraine to use the weapons during a meet-and-greet Tuesday with G20 host, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Russia reported on Tuesday morning that Ukraine had targeted the Bryansk region overnight.
The heightened tensions stoked fears of World War III and angered Trump allies, who feared Biden would plunge the country into a wider conflict with just two months left in his term.
His diminished presence was on full display Monday, when world leaders didn’t bother waiting for him to take one of the G2O group photos, which featured China’s Xi and India’s Narendra Modi in the front row.
An American journalist was caught recounting the embarrassing moment.
‘Where was he? They say to wait for Biden, guys,” she said. ‘Oh my God!’ she said.
President Joe Biden was late for a “family photo” of the leaders attending the G20 summit in Rio on Monday. The assembled leaders grinned at the photo and left before Biden arrived
The photo that Biden missed was intended to draw attention to the fight against global hunger in a country where there is dire poverty. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva organized the initiative
Then she saw Biden.
‘Do you see him on the left? To the left of the palm tree,” she exclaimed. “Oh my god… He’s behind the palm tree now.”
The 81-year-old strolled toward the crowd, which parted after the photo op, along with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The White House began damage control almost immediately.
“Due to logistical issues, they took the photo early before all the leaders arrived,” a senior official told reporters traveling with Biden after the diss. “So a number of leaders were not actually there when they took the photo.”
But on Tuesday – as Biden stood in line for yet another group photo – Paolo Pimenta, Brazil’s communications minister, responded by telling DailyMail.com that the photo had not been taken prematurely.
“Biden was talking to Trudeau,” Pimenta said in his native language, Brazilian Portuguese. ‘Because Brazil is like that. When it’s time, it’s time.’
‘It’s British punctuality. But it will be resolved,” he added. “Yesterday’s photo was not a G20 photo… everyone thought it was the official photo, but it wasn’t.”
President Joe Biden looked blank on Tuesday when asked again whether he had allowed Ukraine to use the weapons during a meet-and-greet Tuesday with G20 host, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Just days earlier, Biden’s position in APEC’s official “family photo” was in the second row and to the side — which the White House said was due to the leaders appearing in alphabetical order.
But a National Security Council spokesperson also had to admit that some leaders were off duty because of their own violations of protocol.
Biden arrived five minutes late to take that photo.
The image spoke louder than words, with China’s Xi taking center stage next to the APEC host, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte.
The one time Trump went to APEC, the photo was centered on the US leader.
Biden also raised eyebrows when he arrived at the G20 summit venue and appeared to deviate from the red carpet and take a different path from other world leaders.
A senior government official also had to do damage control there, explaining that some leaders took the other route when there were heightened security concerns.
And then there was Biden’s walk through the jungle.
A video of the president went viral suggesting he was lost in the Amazon rainforest.
In fact, he was walking the same path he took to get to his podium – and teleprompter setup – to make comments about preserving the ancient forest for generations to come.
But netizens suggested he was gone for good.
“And he was never seen again…” someone posted on X, showing Biden’s backside in green.