- Biden encountered hostility on Friday during a visit to the former steel hub of Allentown
- The president was visiting local businesses to discuss his economic record in the area
- But his actions sparked chants of “loser” and “go home Joe,” before pro-Palestine protesters also appeared, calling the president “genocide.”
President Joe Biden was labeled a “loser” during a trip to Pennsylvania on Friday and urged to “go home” by angry hecklers.
The 81-year-old was met with hostility as he toured small businesses in the Allentown area.
The cries came from a group of residents of a house near a bicycle shop the president was visiting New York Post reports.
A few hours later, a rowdy crowd of Pro Palestine supporters along his motorcade route labeled him “genocide Joe.”
The group sang, “We’ll remember in November,” referring to the upcoming election.
President Biden was confronted by hecklers on Friday during a visit to small businesses in Pennsylvania
The 81-year-old was branded a “loser” by the crowd in the Allentown area, while others shouted “Go home Joe.”
The president’s motorcade was also hit by demonstrators carrying Pro Palestine placards demanding a ceasefire against Gaza
Biden entered three stores to emphasize the value of small businesses and discuss his economic record.
“My name is Joe Biden and I work for the governor and the senator,” the president said as he joined Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, at the Nowhere Coffee Co. stepped in.
Biden ordered what appeared to be a smoothie. Clearly the onlookers in the coffeehouse knew who he was, and one of them joked, “This is a normal day.”
Elsewhere, his reception was less warm, with reporters demanding to know his true feelings about Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s failure to make his hospitalization public.
Asked if he has confidence in Austin, Biden replied: ‘Yes, indeed.’ Asked if it was an error of judgment if Austin didn’t inform him of his hospitalization, Biden said, “Yes.”
These were his first public comments about his defense minister.
The Pentagon said Friday that Austin remains at Walter Reed Medical Center in ‘good condition’, that he had and was in contact with senior staff “actively involved” in overseeing and directing U.S. military participation in attacks on Houthi targets.
Biden has previously indicated he will support his defense secretary, but White House officials agreed the situation was a problem.
The angry crowd branded the president ‘genocide Joe’ and vowed to ‘commemorate it in November’
President Joe Biden also warned Lloyd Austin about his error in judgment when the Defense secretary chose not to disclose his hospitalization, but said he still has confidence in him.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, 70, was hospitalized on Jan. 1, but the Pentagon waited three days to release the information. This most recent photo shows him on December 20
Austin finally announced on Tuesday that he had prostate cancer, after initially refusing to say what he was suffering from and days of questions about his hospitalization.
The mishandling of the case is now being investigated by the Pentagon.
Austin and Biden spoke this week ahead of the US and British airstrikes on Houthi rebels around Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden that took place late Thursday evening.
Biden made Friday’s trip without delivering prepared remarks ahead of a weekend getaway to the presidential retreat, Camp David in Maryland.