Joe Biden Faces Backlash For Visiting Waffle House Following Cold Symptoms

Following his questionable performance at the 2024 presidential debate, Joe Biden, 81, tried to brush off the backlash as he visited Waffle House. However, this just drew more backlash for the U.S. President.

On Thursday, June 27, Biden and former President Donald Trump, 78, faced off in their first 2024 presidential debate since 2020.

To start the event, Biden, with a raspy voice and battling a cold, momentarily lost his focus while discussing the economy. He transitioned from tax policies to health policies, inadvertently mentioning "COVID," before correcting himself with "excuse me, dealing with," and trailing off again.

After the debate, the 81-year-old broke his silence, defending his missteps as he "doesn't debate as well as he used to." As Joe Biden continues to try and gain as many votes as possible, he paid a visit to a Waffle House, but because this was shortly after he showed cold symptoms, people were bashing him.

In a new video shared to Biden's official X account, the U.S. President and his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, stepped into Waffle House and were greeted with open arms.

Almost everyone had their phones and cameras ready to take photos with the 81-year-old as he circulated and shook hands with diners. He even told one man that he "spends too much time in the gym" as they laughed.

He took his order to go and waved goodbye to his hopeful voters.

While the interactions between Biden and the Waffle House patrons were friendly, many social media users are bashing the President because he had a cold a few days ago.

"Shaking hands?!? If you had cold symptoms, why were you not in a mask, and where is your COVID test?" one user wrote. For the record, the Biden administration confirmed he did not have COVID, and he was fighting a head cold.

"I thought you had a cold at the debate? So you thought it was a good idea to go around shaking everyone’s hand and hugging them?" another expressed.

"Got over that cold quickly," a third sarcastically said.

As another chimed in with, "So you can get everyone sick with a cold? Or was that what we were told."

Within four hours, the video has received over 754k views, 2.1k comments, and 11k likes. While several of those comments were attacking the President, others confirmed their vote would still be going to Biden.

"Thank you Mr. President," one X user said.

"You get the real supporters while Trump has to ship them around," another said.

Following the debate, Governor Gavin Newsom of California also supported Biden, saying, “I would never turn my back on President Biden’s record. I would never turn my back on President Biden, and I don’t know a Democrat in my party who would do so, especially after tonight.”

While many are now calling for Joe Biden to drop out of the run due to his concerning performance at the debate, Symone Sanders, a former aide to Vice President Kamala Harris, says otherwise.

“Folks, the facts are if Joe Biden was going to step aside, he would have done so a long time ago,” she said, per The New York Times. “That’s not my opinion, that’s literally the facts. So no, he won’t be stepping aside tomorrow morning. He’s the nominee, and a number of Dems I suspect will be out defending him over the next few days."

While Barack Obama admitted that the debate was not what many had hoped for, he still backs the U.S. President.

"Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know," he admitted. "But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself."

"Between someone who tells the truth; who knows right from wrong and will give it to the American people straight — and someone who lies through his teeth for his own benefit," he added. "Last night didn’t change that, and it’s why so much is at stake in November."