Former President Joe Biden made his second public appearance of the week on Wednesday, but the visit quickly turned chaotic, and his visit, for all intents and purposes, was somewhat of a disaster.
The former president traveled to Harvard University for a private, invite-only meeting with 50 students. However, the event was disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters who gathered outside, chanting, “Biden, Biden, you can’t hide. You’re committing genocide!” Despite the tight security, a few students who attended the meeting shared selfies with Biden on social media.
According to the Harvard Crimson, protesters demonstrating in support of Hamas beat drums and shouted throughout President Biden’s remarks, which reportedly included multiple gaffes. During the speech, the 82-year-old president mistakenly referenced Iraq when discussing Ukraine, prompting a correction. After the event, Biden was given an ice cream bar like a toddler, but it reportedly slipped from his hand and fell to the floor after he took a bite.
“Biden appeared at HKS at the invitation of Donilon, a spring resident fellow at the IOP. Biden did not meet with Garber during his brief Harvard visit, according to Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton,” the Harvard Crimson reported. “Instead, Biden arrived at HKS shortly before 3 p.m. for a photo op with the IOP Student Advisory Committee before proceeding to the private discussion with Donilon and roughly 50 students, open only to invited IOP members and selected HKS students.
“His appearance was marked by gaffes of the sort that became political lightning rods during the 2024 presidential race, including mistakenly referring to Ukraine as Iraq while discussing Russia’s invasion before Donilon corrected him,” the outlet continued. “And when Biden bit into an ice cream bar after the talk, the partially melted dessert fell to the floor.”
Earlier this week, Joe Biden traveled to Chicago to deliver a speech at the national conference of Advocates, Counselors, and Representatives for the Disabled. During his Tuesday evening remarks, Biden appeared to struggle at times and sparked controversy by recalling seeing “colored kids” on the bus during his younger years. “And I’d never seen – uh I’d never seen hardly any black people in Scranton at the time and I was only going on 4th grade. And I remember seeing the kids going by at the time called colored kids on a bus going by,” Biden said.
President Biden randomly starts screaming in his first speech since leaving office. He tells a story about seeing black kids on buses:
“I remember watching a bus go by. It was full of colored kids…I had never seen those.” pic.twitter.com/LdcpiLKSXV
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) April 15, 2025