President Joe Biden condemned violence against Muslims on Monday, during an Eid al-Fitr reception marking the end of Ramadan at the White House, but mispronounced the term Islamophobia.
“Muslims make our nation stronger every single day, even as they still face real challenges and threats in our society including targeted violence and Islamicphobia (sic),” Biden said, mispronouncing the term Islamophobia while reading from his teleprompter.
The president also lamented that Uyghur and Rohingya Muslim communities were prevented from celebrating the holiday, but did not mention that China was the source of their persecution and oppression.
At the beginning of his speech, Biden selected two young Muslim boys from the audience and brought them up on stage next to him.
Biden asked the boys if they were ready to be president of the United States.
“All kidding aside, look at these young men. They can be anything they want in this country if we’re smart,” he said.
Biden also joked that the fasting season of Ramadan was shorter than the fasting season of Lent.
“For Lent, I gotta go 40 days with no sweets and no ice cream … and I did it. 40. It’s harder guys. You know what I mean?” he said.
Biden repeated his frequent observation that the United States was a nation founded on the idea that all men and women were created equal.
“We’ve never met that goal, but we’ve never walked away from it, except one brief moment,” he said, likely hinting at his predecessor former President Donald Trump.
“And we’re back. We’re back. No, I really mean it,” he said proudly.