President Joe Biden wore swim shorts while lounging at a beach in Delaware on Saturday, a seemingly unimportant event that has somehow become the latest political mini-drama.
Ahead of a planned five-day trip to Europe, Biden and his wife Jill visited Rehoboth Beach with the Secret Service where the pair sat under umbrellas.
Yet given the current state of domestic discourse, countless people from across the political spectrum used the photos to either condemn or defend Biden.
Democrats were quick to praise the 80-year-old president as hip and cool for his choice of attire, which included shorts imprinted with images of turtles.
“Dang. This photo of President Biden wearing sea turtle shorts is pretty cool honestly,” Victor Shi wrote. “80 year olds can be pretty cool too.”
“if he keeps leaning into the frat guy energy it will be a landslide,” wrote one user.
Conservatives on the other hand described the photographs as disgusting, vile, and tasteless. Over at the blog for far-right commentator Steven Crowder, one writer was especially critical of the president’s swimwear.
“There is no way you can like and respect Joe Biden and allow him to go shirtless in a public place in turtle shorts,” the post says. “Either that or the person who suggested ‘Hey Mr. President, let’s go to the beach’ should be blacklisted from ever working in politics again.”
Other more conspiratorial users suggested that the praise for Biden was part of a coordinated effort to make the elder statesman more palatable for voters.
“All these paid lib extremists come out in unison yesterday… ‘Look at that strength… look at Biden in those shorts on the beach… such strength… he’s in much better shape than Trump…’” they wrote. “The man doesn’t even know where the hell he is.”
A handful of users, however, saw the entire debate as meaningless. One self-described leftist pointed to ongoing economic issues as being much more concerning than Biden’s attire.
“‘Doesn’t Biden look good in shorts?’ The minimum wage is still $7.25 and we don’t even get to have a real primary,” they wrote.
Some online even went as far as to compare Biden, former President Donald Trump, and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) in regards to who wore shorts better.
“Um yea… Biden’s shorts win,” one user argued.
With the presidential election season nearing, Americans, consumed by terror over a potential reign from their political foe, are becoming increasingly desperate in their support or defense of Biden and Trump.
