Yet another chapter in the ongoing saga to determine what on earth is wrong with the president of the United States has been written after Israeli news cameras captured the moment that Biden literally knelt down in the presence of a foreign leader.
The foreign leader in question, outgoing Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, was clearly caught off guard when President Joe Biden bowed deferentially before him and his aide.
As it turns out, this was the 46th president’s very odd way of displaying his admiration for Rivlin’s aide, a Haredi Orthodox woman named Rivka Ravitz, upon being told that she is the proud mother of 12 children.
Rivlin was visiting the White House June 28 as his last state visit before he is replaced by the incoming president, Isaac Herzog. Ravitz, who has served as Rivlin’s aide since 1999 when he was a lawmaker, accompanied him on his visit, according to The Times of Israel.
“This is my chief of staff. She is very Orthodox, and you won’t believe how many children she has,” the Israeli leader told Biden, according to The Jewish Voice.
Biden was certainly, um, impressed.
“You know what? I have to go down on my knees for honoring you for having 12 children,” the president of the United States declared, before proceeding to do exactly that.
Yes indeed – It's President Biden taking a knee in honor of former Israeli President Rivlin and his chief of staff! Kind of makes you want to go all soft and wobbly, doesn't it? pic.twitter.com/96j6MSkMY0
— Philip Giraldi (@philipgiraldi) July 7, 2021
Rivlin looked stunned, clasping his hands together awkwardly in what appeared to be perfectly understandable surprise that the leader of the free world was behaving so strangely during a state visit on his own soil.
Ravitz, for her part, had to politely decline a handshake from Biden following the odd kneeling stunt, as she does not shake hands with men due to her Orthodox faith.
She may have been a bit hesitant to do so even if she were not devoutly religious, as the whole incident had her in disbelief, as The Jewish Voice noted.
“I was pretty shocked,” she told the New York radio program Talkline, according to The Times of Israel, adding that if there hadn’t been cameras in the Oval Office at the time, “no one would have believed me.”
Somehow, I think we would have.
The incident certainly brings to mind former President Barack Obama’s own near-prostrate bows to foreign leaders, although granted, it’s not quite as bad. It is certainly about as strange as anything we can expect from Biden, however.
While women who give birth to and rear large families are absolutely worthy of praise and admiration — since when is literally kneeling and bowing down before them normal behavior, like, at all?
Wouldn’t a simple “Wow, that’s impressive, women really can do it all!” or “gosh, and they say my job is hard! You’re a hero!” have sufficed?
Biden’s behavior keeps getting stranger and stranger. Were this an isolated incident, it would perhaps just be a small blip on the radar.
It was bad enough when he dopily said he didn’t “want to go home” when visiting the U.K. last month, never mind the fact that he’s made it a habit to zone out and forget what he’s talking about or fumbled for notes to respond to questions while being served ice cream for a photo op.
But the signs that the president of the United States is suffering from early-onset dementia keep piling up, along with calls for him to undergo the necessary cognitive testing to demonstrate his mental fitness for the American public.
He also has a long history of very strange behavior when in the presence of women and children, so when you add kneeling to all the sniffing, squeezing, grabbing, and odd whispering and comments, the whole bowing down before a fruitful mother thing gets significantly less endearing.
In fact, it’s downright bizarre.
What’s going on with Joe?