Biden’s weekend in Rome took on an increasingly surreal quality as the weekend progressed. The weirdness started on Saturday when he arrived with an 85-car entourage to attend a G20 summit that was purportedly focused on “climate change” (or, more likely, focused on using climate change to increase political power), followed by Biden’s marginalized status for the group photo op. By Sunday, Biden missed an important photo op, claimed he was playing elevator games, used a reference to Mussolini while in Rome, may have been a COVID carrier when he met with the Pope and had an ugly rumor following him.

After almost vanishing from Saturday’s photo op, Biden vanished entirely from Sunday’s photo op at Rome’s famous Trevi fountain. There they all were, tossing coins in the fountain to placate pagan gods (and hoping that Gaia heard their pleas regarding climate change) but, unlike yesterday, when a “Where’s Waldo” style search eventually located Biden, this time he was nowhere to be seen:

G20 leaders did the Trevi Fountain coin toss this morning in Rome (Biden didn’t participate) pic.twitter.com/Sp9nz4GNd6

— Kevin Liptak (@Kevinliptakcnn) October 31, 2021

The White House offered no excuse (so far as I know) for Biden’s absence.

So, he missed a photo op. That’s a “whatever,” right? Maybe, but how do we explain the other strange stuff?

There’s the footage of Biden introducing Secretary of State Blinken. The first thing you’ll notice is Biden’s barely-there delivery, as if he’s someone who doesn’t speak English and is reading the words phonetically. But what really caught everyone’s attention was that reference to getting the trains to run on time.

It’s probable that few in Italy have forgotten that the excuse given for voting for the totalitarian Benito Mussolini was the claim that at least he made the trains run on time. Admittedly, Joe was a toddler when Mussolini was executed, but you’d think he’d still know about that line:

At what point do you pull him out..???..!!! pic.twitter.com/2W9Fo1RatV

— Thomas OConnor рџ‡єрџ‡І Born '62 рџ‡єрџ‡І Only LEGAL VOTES (@TheyCallMeTomO1) October 31, 2021

So, Biden got a little confused and said something a little tactless. That’s not so bad, is it? Well, maybe not...but what about the elevator games?

President Biden apologized for being late to his press conference in Rome at the conclusion of a two-day meeting with G20 leaders before heading to a United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

“I apologize to keep you waiting,” said Biden, who showed up more than 20 minutes late. “We were playing with elevators. Long story, anyway.”

"We were, uh, playing with elevators. Long story," Biden says after wandering in late to his own press conference. pic.twitter.com/F85ty3qMdN

— Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) October 31, 2021

My kids played with elevator buttons when they were little. I’m not sure I want to hear that from the American president (*).  Then, as he has many times before during White House press conferences, Biden spoke his instructions aloud, again raising the question of who is pulling his strings, while clutching his little note cards.

Meanwhile, Jen Psaki, who’s been fully vaccinated, announced on Sunday that she has COVID and is quarantining. Internet sleuths figured out an interesting chronology.

Psaki last spoke to Biden on Tuesday and then went into quarantine on Wednesday. On Friday, Biden, sans mask, met with the Pope. That seems a bit reckless, doesn’t it? Biden is alleged to have tested negative for COVID but, if he was in contact with a carrier...? Simply by virtue of their age, both Biden and the Pope are in a high-risk category for COVID.

And lastly, according to one Nevada Republican politico, there’s an unkind rumor making the rounds in Rome:

The word around Rome is that Biden’s meeting with the Pope was unusually long because Biden had a bit of an “bathroom accident” at the Vatican & it had to be addressed prior to him leaving.

I know we joke often about this, but this is the actual rumor going around Rome now.

— Amy Tarkanian (@MrsT106) October 30, 2021

There’s no reason whatsoever to believe that this rumor is true. However, the reality of Biden’s presidency (*) is that it’s not a completely nonsensical rumor on its face. After all, it aligns well with the obvious fact that Biden no longer seems in full possession of his senses.

And that’s the story of Biden’s surreal weekend in Rome.

(For this post, my pronouns are “I really miss Trump,” and “The Second Amendment ensures the people’s right to keep and bear arms.” What are your pronouns?)

Image: Biden speaks after the G20 summit (edited in befunky). YouTube screen grab.

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