Dr. Jill Biden was wearing a matching mask and dress with a vaguely floral motif. President Joe Biden (D) noticed a dandelion in the grass, bent down to pluck it, then stood back up and gave it to his wife.
A perfectly mundane moment between a man and a woman who have been married for about as long as I’ve been alive, and who are still genuinely in love with each other. This wouldn’t merit much attention except that of course President Joe Biden is the president of the United States of America.
And because he’s a Democrat, right wingnuts want to read something nefarious into such a sweet, simple gesture.
Newsmax host Grant Stinchfield had a mini freak out about it on air while the chyron made it clear what he thought about the whole thing: “Biden bizarrely gives Jill a dandelion.” As Stinchfield starts talking about it, he sets the scene as if he’s about to present something profoundly weird. “All right folks, take a look at this,” he said. He then starts recounting the scene. “And he stops and picks up—I think it’s a dandelion? But it’s a dandelion that hasn’t even blossomed into a flower yet,” Stinchfied complains, “like it gives everybody asthma.”
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Leave aside for a moment that the dandelion had, in fact, already passed its flowering stage, it seems Stinchfield has some past trauma with dandelions. As far as Stinchield is concerned, dandelions are chaotic and a force for evil. “You blow it, it goes everywhere, and then everybody starts sneezing,” he said. Little wonder then that he doesn’t think it was a romantic move and even (jokingly one would hope) raises the possibility it was all a set-up. “He picks up the weed and gives it to Jill in what I guess is supposed to be some kind of a sweet gesture,” he scoffed. “I say it was a planted dandelion there. Who knows?” Many quickly started to post about #DandelionGate on social media. Stinchfield brushed off critics on Twitter: “I think I’m pretty damn funny!”
Laura Ingraham at Fox “News” also spent several minutes dissecting this simple moment with contributor Raymond Arroyo, who came to the conclusion that Biden is trying too hard after all these years of marriage.
It’s pathetic, really, Joe, she was already holding your hand, and presumably without any kind of advance agreement.
But it’s actually a good thing Donald Trump never picked a dandelion for Melania while he had the title of president: she would have had to help him back up. Where’s Theresa May when you need her?