WASHINGTON — President Biden referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as his “boss” Thursday and used the wrong job title — “secretary” — for Ohio Sen. and Trump’s running mate JD Vance at an event where he signed executive orders creating new gun control task forces.
The retiring 81-year-old president delivered meandering remarks to a roomful of guests at the White House, saying that “I’ve been to all but three mass shootings in the United States of America” before deploying an attack against the Republican vice presidential candidate that’s been debunked by fact checkers.
Biden tore into Vance, 40, for allegedly shrugging off mass shootings as a fact of life in America — even though the full context of the Republican’s remarks make clear he was saying the opposite.
“I’m going to be very blunt, Secretary Vance of Ohio has called these shootings facts of life. Who the hell do these people think they are?” the president fumed.
Vance actually told a CNN reporter on Sept. 5 that schools should increase security so that shootings are not a fact of life.
“What is going to solve this problem?” Vance said at the time.
“I don’t like to admit this. I don’t like that this is a fact of life,” he continued. “But if you’re a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets, and we have got to bolster security at our schools so that a person who walks through the front door … they’re not able to.”
Biden’s executive orders create new panels to study how to best implement active-shooter drills at schools and to study potential regulations of 3-D printed guns and equipment that can make a semiautomatic weapon into a machine gun.
“Keep it going, boss,” Biden told Harris, 59, as he handed her a pen that he used to sign the documents.
Biden has mistakenly referred to Democratic presidential nominee Harris as the “president” on at least seven occasions.
The president’s series of incorrect remarks Thursday drew fresh mockery and criticism on social media just a day after Biden greeted world leaders at an event in New York City with the wrong salutation “welcome to Washington.”
Although Biden’s new gun-control orders do not themself establish new restrictions, one creates an emerging firearm threats task force whose purview includes making recommendations about how to curb concerning new trends.
The gaffe-prone commander in chief is America’s oldest-ever sitting president and ended his bid for a second term on July 21 after a relentless campaign by fellow Democrats to force him to step aside due to concerns about his mental acuity.
He has refused bipartisan congressional calls to resign before the end of his term on Jan. 20.
Harris, who slid into the top spot on the Democratic ticket after he ended his campaign, lauded Biden at the Thursday event as “our extraordinary president.”
The vice president has sought to position herself as a pragmatic advocate of gun control ahead of the Nov. 5 election — describing herself in recent appearances as a gun-owner willing to shoot anyone who breaks into her home.
Harris has not provided specifics on her firearm ownership, prompting Republicans to question if she is telling the truth.
