Tech

Stimulants, Gatorade, or pandering? Biden’s orange beverage at Juneteenth celebration prompts myriad speculation

Many were confident the beverage was Gatorade.

Photo of Tricia Crimmins

Tricia Crimmins

Joe Biden(l), Joe Biden drinking orange drink(R)

Former President Donald Trump has long called President Joe Biden “Sleepy Joe” after false claims surfaced about Biden sleeping at public engagements.

Featured Video

Now, the Republican National Committee (RNC) is alleging that the only thing keeping Biden awake is his “mysterious orange drink,” which he was seen consuming in a video.

The drink, as identified by many online, appears to be orange Gatorade with the label removed.

“This mysterious orange drink is the only thing keeping Crooked Joe Biden from falling into a deep slumber,” @RNCResearch tweeted yesterday, referencing another Trump nickname for Biden. “Yikes!”

Advertisement

Included in the tweet was a video of Biden at the White House’s Juneteenth celebration, watching a performance while drinking an orange beverage out of a clear plastic bottle.

The account’s assertion that Biden was drinking something that contained stimulant substances was picked up by well-known far-right figures.

“Biden would literally pass out without whatever orange drug-filled cocktail his handlers just handed him,” Nick Sortor tweeted. Sortor is a right-wing journalist who appeared on Tucker Carlson’s former Fox News show, Tucker Carlson Tonight.

Advertisement

“Why is Joe Biden the ONLY one drinking a beverage and why is it orange?” Bill Mitchell, the CEO of conservative news outlet YourVoice tweeted. “It doesn’t have a label and is in an unusually shaped bottle. Is that a spiked drink?”

“It’s not even funny how out of his element Biden is,” popular far-right meme account @ImMeme0 tweeted. “Thank God for orange drink to keep Sleepy Joe awake.”

Many tweeted that the “unusually shaped bottle” was that of Gatorade.

“Get the entire RNC Research team to work solving the mystery of a bottle of orange liquid that is obviously gatorade,” Aaron Fritschner tweeted.

Advertisement

“Ah yes. Gatorade. Very mysterious,” an X user replied to the RNC’s initial tweet.

“It looks like orange Gatorade with the wrapper ripped off,” another X user said.

Still, others claimed that the orange liquid in the Gatorade bottle was a mixture of multiple nefarious substances.

“Liquid Imodium laced with Adderall,” one X user guessed. Imodium is a medication for gastro-intestinal relief. Many debated online last week about whether a video showed Biden having an accident.

Advertisement

“Baby blood and Gatorade,” another person said, referencing the QAnon conspiracy.

“Pedialyte and cocaine. Dash of Adderall,” an X user wrote.

Some even suspected that Biden drinking “orange drink,” an orange-flavored beverage, was in an effort to pander to communities of color.

“Orange drink. Juneteenth,” conservative news network Next News tweeted. “This is the lowest form of racial pandering I think I’ve ever witnessed.”

Advertisement

The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here to get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.

 
The Daily Dot