In a classic Joe Biden moment during the 2024 White House Easter Egg roll, President Biden approached a young girl at the event and, as often happens with little kids, she burst into tears. Predictably, the incident took off on Twitter, where people used it to mock the unpopular president and comment on how kids sometimes react to him.
As background, one of the annual White House Easter events is the Easter Egg Roll. Around since the 1870s, children use spoons to push brightly painted eggs across the White House Lawn. This year, 40,000 people, about 10,000 more than last year, attended the event. The event was delayed this year by intermittent rain squalls.
Kicking it off this year after the rain ended, President Joe Biden said, while flanked by the First Lady and two Easter Bunnies, “Easter reminds us of the power of hope and renewal, sacrifice and resurrection. But mainly, love and grace toward one another. It’s time to pray for one another, to cherish the blessings and possibilities that we have as Americans.”
In any case, one of the first tweets on the subject to take off came from the “Sputnik” X account, which describes itself as an alternative news source. It said, “Biden makes a girl burst into tears during Easter celebrations. During the White House Easter Egg Roll, the US president approached the girl from behind and seemed to ruin the poor child’s day.”
The girl was probably just surprised by the new and, to her, strange man, rather than it being anything Biden did wrong that sent the girl into tears. Such often happens with Santas and Easter Bunnies and other, similar type adults dealing with young children at events. But, still, Twitter was quick to react and use the incident to mock Biden.
One commenter, for example, wrote , “That kid knows about stranger danger.” Another joked, “We feel the same, Sweetheart.” Another poster, however, noted the truth of the matter, which is that the young girl was probably just freaked out by the appearance of a stranger: “Oh come on. There’s so much worse he’s done…you’re diluting the issue with weak stuff like this…some kids are just sensitive about any stranger.”
First Lady Jill Biden, speaking at the opening of the egg roll, said, “I’m a teacher, so I love any time when we can turn the White House into a classroom. And that’s what we’re doing today. The South Lawn is transforming into our learning playground and school community. And there’s so much to discover. Listen to a story in the reading nook, explore space, make circuit breakers, write notes to our troops, take a field trip to a farm, hunt for dinosaur fossils, and so much more.”
Continuing, she added, “Education expands our horizons and transports us to new worlds. Just like these balloons, it allows all students to soar and reach unimaginable heights. I hope that you all learn something new today. But most importantly, I hope you all have fun.”
