A video of President Joe Biden uplifting a boy with a stutter has resurfaced on social media on Sunday after former President Donald Trump mocked the condition during a rally on Saturday.
Trump, who is the likely GOP nominee in the 2024 presidential race, made fun of the president’s life-long stutter when taking aim at his Thursday night State of the Union (SOTU) address.
“Didn’t it bring us together?” Trump sarcastically asked the crowd in Rome, Georgia, on Saturday. He then impersonated Biden, saying, “I’m gonna bring the country tuh-tuh-tuh-together.”
Newsweek reached out to Biden’s and Trump’s campaigns via email for comment.
Spencer Platt/Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Growing up, Biden struggled with the speech condition and was even bullied by his Catholic school teacher for it, his sister Valerie Biden Owens revealed in a PBS documentary from 2020.
Brian Klaas, an associate professor in global politics at University College London and contributing writer at The Atlantic, shared a video of Biden talking to a boy who had a stutter like himself on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday. Since early Sunday afternoon, the video has over 22,000 views so far.
“Sometimes the smallest snapshots show the biggest contrasts,” Klaas wrote alongside the video. “Here’s how Biden previously interacted with a child he met who was struggling with a stutter.”
The boy’s father introduced his son as Brayden and said: “We’re here because he stutters. He wanted to hear you speak.”
Biden went in to hug Brayden and said: “I’ll tell you what—Don’t let it define you. You are smart as hell, now you really are. You can do this.”
The president then asked to get a phone number from the boy so that he could speak to Brayden about how he dealt with the condition. Biden said that he works with about 25 other people with the condition, adding “I can tell you the things that helped me.”
Biden explained that managing his stutter “took a lot of practice, but I promise you, I promise you, you can do it.”
“And you know when I say I know about bullies—You know about bullies, the kids who make fun. It’s going to change, honey. I promise you,” Biden said as he leaned in closer to the boy.
Sometimes the smallest snapshots show the biggest contrasts. After the State of the Union, Trump cruelly mocked Biden for his childhood stutter. Here’s how Biden previously interacted with a child he met who was struggling with a stutter. Watch this. pic.twitter.com/1osTzme6c0
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) March 10, 2024
Trump and Biden have been campaigning in Georgia ahead of the state primary on Tuesday. In 2020, Biden won against Trump in the general election in Georgia by a razor thin margin (49.5 percent to 49.3 percent).
Biden’s SOTU speech was widely well-received, despite Trump calling it an “angry, dark, hate-filled rant” at his rally on Saturday.
During his SOTU address, Biden not only shared the work that his administration has accomplished and its goals for the future of America, but he only took aim at Trump multiple times.
“As president, my predecessor, failed in the most basic presidential duty that he owes to American people: the duty to care,” Biden said of the former president.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.