‘Sleepy Joe’ Moniker Sticks As President Biden’s Cat Nap Turns Heads at Climate Convention, Well Nobody Said It Would Be Fun

Does anyone have political Viagra? Asking for a friend. OK, we’ll level with you. We’re asking for Joe Biden because he’s not even a year into his presidency and already he’s falling asleep in public. This time at a climate convention in Scotland.

We all know that sinking feeling when the eyelids droop and there’s nowhere to go but dreamland. But it’s super awkward when that feeling strikes, not in the middle of your girlfriend yelling at you for leaving your dishes in the sink for the millionth time, but during a highly visible international conference addressing the existential crisis of climate change.

That’s how one of Biden’s sweet dreams turned into a PR nightmare in as little as 22 seconds.

As human rights activist Eddie Ndopu gave opening remarks ahead of COP26, with world leaders gathered around to “meaningfully” strategize on climate action, Sleepy Joe couldn’t help himself from quickly grabbing an abbreviated 40 winks. It didn’t help the optics that the POTUS checked out while Ndopu, a gay black wheelchair user said things like, “This conference is one of the most important meetings in history.”

Thankfully, a presidential aide came to the rescue by casually rousing Biden from his slumber just in time for him to join in on the post-speech applause.

Biden appears to fall asleep during COP26 opening speeches pic.twitter.com/az8NZTWanI

— Zach Purser Brown (@zachjourno) November 1, 2021

Huh? What? No, I wasn’t sleeping. I was envisioning a solution to climate change involving a giant slingshot and a big red rubber band.

Sure, lots of presidents and prime ministers have fallen asleep during major events. Ronald Reagan famously fell asleep while visiting the Pope. Heck, even the Pope admits to falling asleep while he’s praying. So, it’s not uncommon for jetlagged public figures to nod off a time or two in the course of their duties. But it doesn’t help that Biden, at 79, is the oldest president our country has ever had.

No offense to his office, but maybe it’s time we got some young blood in there to tackle the massive problems staring down at us. And we don’t mean by way of a blood transfusion. Climate change may have been facilitated by our grandparents, but shoveling the shitstorm headed our way is going to be squarely on our shoulders, making it a young man’s game. And as of right now, staring down the dominoes of one climate disaster after another doesn’t lull us into a snoozefest. In fact, we’re pretty sure that’s what’s keeping us awake at night.

Cover Photo: Chris Jackson (Getty Images)