President Joe Biden was captured on video appearing to fall asleep during the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference opening speeches on Monday.
“Biden appears to fall asleep during COP26 opening speeches,” Zach Purser Brown of the Washington Post tweeted, along with footage of the moment.
When the president appeared to fall asleep, an aide approached Biden, apparently waking him up.
Video of the president’s possible public nap was widely circulated online and became the subject of criticism.
“The face of the man who said climate change was the ‘number one issue’ facing humanity,” Tennessee Rep. Mark Green posted on Twitter.
“NOBODY in their right mind believes this man is actually running our country,” Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson tweeted. “It’s so painfully obvious he’s not physically or mentally up for the job, that it’s EMBARRASSING. He needs to resign. America deserves better than this.”
“In his defence, I fall asleep when Prince Charles is speaking too,” Nigel Farage tweeted.
“The best part about this clip is when Biden wakes up after seemingly dozing off, looks *directly into the camera,* and then apparently silently comes to the conclusion ‘Yeah whatever I’m gonna take this nap anyway,'” reporter Jack Jenkins tweeted.
“Joe Biden falls asleep for more than 30 seconds during the opening remarks of the COP26 Climate Summit, is woken up by a staffer, and then applauds as if he was listening to the speech the entire time,” tweeted Columbia professor Anthony Zenkus. “Exceeding expectations. #COP26 #ClimateJusticeNow.”
“The US president looked to have nodded off as world leaders were told they have the ‘power to make decisions and reach agreements which will affect the lives of generations to come,'” The London Economic tweeted.
“You guys… this is embarrassing… for God’s sake 25th him already,” wrote podcast host Tyler Zed on Twitter.
A least 400 private planes were flown into Scotland for the Climate Summit in Glasgow over the weekend, with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Prince Charles, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Biden among those who made the trip, the New York Post reported.
During the event, Biden and other world leaders pushed for lower carbon emissions and fossil fuels.
Biden’s trip also included an 85-car motorcade, which was used during the president’s trip across Europe ahead of the Climate Summit.
