Jesse Watters on Monday harped on President Joe Biden’s choice to eat an ice cream cone at a Baskin Robbins in Portland, Oregon, over the weekend, complaining that his methods of doing so were “too casual a look for the country.”
The Fox host also made a bizarre list and do’s and don’ts for ice cream eating—his commentary resembling the hubbub largely in right-wing media after then-President Barack Obama wore a tan suit during a 2014 press conference and was promptly called “unpresidential” on Fox News. The move was indicative of a “lack of seriousness,” then-Representative Peter King (R-NY) also huffed.
“A man should never lick an ice cream cone in public,” Watters declared. “A man can only eat ice cream on vacation. I guess Biden is always on vacation, so it makes sense. But if a man needs to eat ice cream in public, he should scoop it out of a bowl with a spoon.”
ADVERTISEMENT
While eating the ice cream cone, Biden was asked about the strength of the dollar. “I’m not concerned about the strength of the dollar. I’m concerned about the rest of the world. Our economy is strong as hell,” Biden said, a remark that (somewhat predictably) became fodder for the Republican National Committee and a critical FoxNews.com article.
Biden also said in his response: “Inflation is worldwide. It’s worse off than it is in the United States. So the problem is the lack of economic growth and sound policy in other countries, not so much ours.”
But Watters couldn’t leave the ice cream issue alone. “The president of the United States licking things, especially ice cream, is childish, it’s frivolous, and it’s too casual a look for the country,” he griped. “Biden’s brain freeze will live in infamy. And just like [George W.] Bush gave up golf after 9/11, Biden should give up ice cream after the recession. You’re not at a birthday party, Joe.”
In the same vein, Watters then criticized Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for dancing at a Saturday gathering of young Democrats. “What are you celebrating?” he asked. “There is a crime wave. People can’t afford to buy gas, groceries, or houses.”
As for the chatter over the color of Obama’s suit, the former president himself has periodically made light of it over the years, once in 2017 during one of his final days in office and again in a 2020 interview at Howard University.
Biden also wore a tan suit last year around the time of Obama’s 60th birthday, perhaps as a dig at right-wing commentators like Watters.
