Biden Abruptly Walks Out of Medal of Honor Ceremony Before Benediction; Forgot What Year He Was Sworn In

In early September 2023, two separate events captured the concerns that an increasing number of Americans — including a majority of Democrats — had about President Biden’s fitness and mental acuity. First, Biden abruptly walked out of a Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House before the closing benediction, leaving the recipient visibly confused. Then, during a Labor Day speech in Philadelphia, Biden claimed he was sworn in as president in January of 2020 — a full year before his actual inauguration.

The Medal of Honor Walkout

Biden had gathered dignitaries, military officials, and guests in the East Room to award the Medal of Honor to Captain Larry L. Taylor, United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry during the Vietnam War. Taylor earned the nation’s highest military decoration for his actions on June 18, 1968, when he used his helicopter to rescue four fellow soldiers trapped in a fierce firefight. Flying his Cobra helicopter into heavy enemy fire, Taylor laid down suppressive fire and ultimately used his two-seat helicopter to extract the surrounded soldiers — an act of extraordinary courage that put his own life at extreme risk.

The ceremony itself was a solemn occasion befitting the gravity of the Medal of Honor. Biden delivered remarks about Taylor’s heroism and placed the medal around his neck. But then, as the event moved toward the closing benediction — a traditional prayer that marks the formal end of such ceremonies — Biden abruptly turned and walked out of the East Room.

Medal of Honor recipient Larry Taylor was seen wiping a tear from his face and looking around in visible confusion as the president shuffled away. Biden had a smile on his face as he left, apparently unaware of or unconcerned by the breach of protocol. The closing benediction proceeded without the Commander-in-Chief present.

The walkout was notable because the Medal of Honor ceremony was Biden’s only public event scheduled for the day. There was no obvious scheduling conflict or emergency that would have required an early departure. The ceremony is one of the most sacred events a president presides over, and the benediction is a brief, dignified conclusion that typically lasts only a few minutes. Walking out before it concluded was, at minimum, a significant protocol violation and, to many observers, a disrespectful moment for the recipient.

Former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany commented on the incident, noting the stark contrast between the gravity of what Taylor had done to earn the medal and Biden’s casual departure before the ceremony had formally concluded.

The Labor Day Speech

The following day, September 4, 2023, Biden traveled from his Rehoboth Beach vacation to Philadelphia to deliver a Labor Day address to Sheet Metal Workers Local 19. The speech was intended to promote Bidenomics and draw a contrast with Republicans on economic policy. Instead, it produced several notable misstatements.

The most significant error came when Biden referenced the timing of his inauguration. “Just since you got me sworn in January of 2020!” Biden told the crowd. He was a full year off. Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on January 20, 2021. January 2020 was still during the Trump administration, twelve months before Biden took office.

The error was not a minor slip of the tongue that could be easily explained away. Getting the year of one’s own inauguration wrong — an event that Biden himself frequently referenced in speeches — was the kind of mistake that reinforced the age and cognitive concerns that polls showed were foremost in voters’ minds.

The Deficit and Debt Confusion

During the same Philadelphia speech, Biden made a claim about deficit reduction that contained a notable self-contradiction. He first said he had “cut the deficit $1.7 trillion” and then, shortly afterward, said he had “cut the debt $1.7 trillion.” The deficit and the national debt are different things. The deficit is the annual gap between government spending and revenue in a single fiscal year. The national debt is the cumulative total of all deficits over time.

Neither claim was accurate. Biden had not cut the deficit by $1.7 trillion through his own policies — the decline from the pandemic peak was primarily due to the expiration of emergency spending. And he had certainly not cut the national debt by $1.7 trillion; the national debt had increased by several trillion dollars during Biden’s presidency, crossing the $33 trillion mark by September 2023.

The confusion between deficit and debt was not new for Biden. He had made similar conflations in previous speeches, and the White House communications team had never publicly corrected the record. The repeated error suggested either that Biden did not understand the distinction or that he was deliberately blurring it to make his fiscal record sound more impressive than it was.

The $400,000 Tax Promise

Biden also repeated his standard campaign pledge: “I made a promise when I got elected… no one making under $400,000 will see their federal taxes go up a single penny!” This claim had been a cornerstone of Biden’s economic messaging since the 2020 campaign, but it had been challenged by economists and fact-checkers who noted that the Inflation Reduction Act’s provisions — including increased IRS enforcement — could effectively increase the tax burden on some Americans earning below the threshold.

Additionally, the impact of inflation itself functioned as a hidden tax that disproportionately affected middle and lower-income Americans. With cumulative inflation of approximately 16 percent since Biden took office, the purchasing power of wages had declined even as nominal incomes rose. Whether or not federal tax rates changed, Americans were paying more for groceries, housing, energy, and other essentials, which amounted to a de facto reduction in after-tax income.

The Bidenomics Branding

Biden used the Philadelphia speech to continue promoting “Bidenomics,” the administration’s rebranding effort for its economic policies. “Everyone on Wall Street is referring to these days as ‘Bidenomics.’ And guess what? It’s working!” Biden said.

The claim that Bidenomics was “working” was contested by the same voters Biden was asking to reelect him. Consumer confidence surveys, polling on economic sentiment, and the administration’s own approval ratings on economic issues all showed that a significant majority of Americans felt the economy was on the wrong track. Groceries cost more. Housing was less affordable. Credit card debt was at record levels. The disconnect between Biden’s insistence that the economy was thriving and the lived experience of most Americans was one of the defining challenges of his reelection campaign.

The Delaware-Philadelphia Claim

In another moment from the speech, Biden, who represented Delaware in the United States Senate for 36 years, told the Philadelphia audience that he would not have been elected without them. The claim was geographically puzzling, as Delaware and Pennsylvania are separate states with separate electorates. Philadelphia voters did not vote in Delaware’s Senate elections. The remark appeared to be either a standard political compliment taken too far or another instance of Biden confusing the details of his own political history.

Key Takeaways

Biden abruptly walked out of a Medal of Honor ceremony for Captain Larry Taylor before the closing benediction, leaving the recipient visibly confused and wiping tears as the president departed.
During a September 4, 2023, Labor Day speech in Philadelphia, Biden claimed he was “sworn in January of 2020” — a full year before his actual inauguration in January 2021.
Biden confused the deficit and the national debt in the same speech, claiming he had “cut the deficit $1.7 trillion” and then “cut the debt $1.7 trillion,” neither of which was accurate.
Biden repeated his pledge that no one earning under $400,000 would see a tax increase and claimed “Bidenomics is working” even as consumer sentiment and approval ratings on the economy remained deeply negative.
The Medal of Honor ceremony was Biden’s only scheduled public event for the day, making the premature departure more difficult to explain.

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