A video of President Joe Biden appearing to “wander off” into the Amazon rainforest has gone viral on social media.
The clip comes from the end of Biden’s press conference Sunday from a section of forest in Manaus, Brazil, where he delivered remarks about conservation and the investments his administration has made in clean energy infrastructure.
In the clip, Biden, standing at a podium in a loose-fitting outdoor shirt and sunglasses turns, waves, and appears to walk right into the forest, rather than following the path in front of him.
On Sunday, pop culture news account @PopBase posted a 13-second version of the clip on X, captioned: “Joe Biden becomes the first sitting US President to visit the Amazon Rainforest.” It had been viewed 26.1 million times by Monday morning, and included many comments of people asking where the president had gone.
Frequent Biden critic @EndWokeness posted another version of the clip on X captioned: “Did the President of the United States just wander off into the Amazon?” It had been viewed 4.5 million times by Sunday.
Looking at the full video of the press conference, it is clear that Biden did not “wander off” into the Amazon, but rather walked down a different path which is not clearly visible in the 13-second clip.
Saul Loeb/Getty Images
Several other members of the press walked out along this path after the president, and others walked from this path towards the podium after he finished speaking.
Newsweek has contacted the White House via email for comment.
The clip is part of a genre of memes used by critics of Biden, including Donald Trump’s campaign, to post videos that appear to show him “wandering off,” implying that he is a senile old man.
In June, @RNCResearch, an account affiliated with Trump’s campaign, posted a video of Biden with other G7 leaders applauding a skydiving demonstration when the president turns to his left and walks toward a man packing up a parachute, and away from the gathering of world officials. It is not clear what Biden said to the man, but he is seen giving him a thumbs-up before Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni taps the president on the shoulder and gestures for him to return to the group, where they appear to pause for a photo opportunity.
The account captioned the video: “WHAT IS BIDEN DOING?”
In August, @RNCResearch posted a video of Biden getting on a plane, and wrote that it was evidence of “obvious decline” because the passengers, who he was there to meet, had already disembarked.
The White House responded to that video and said Biden was simply going on board to thank the pilots.
