Biden had some awkward moments with Brazil's president (who appeared annoyed by a handshake diss)

Doug P. | 6:30 PM on September 20, 2023

Today at the United Nations in New York, the president of Brazil was among the people President Biden met with:

President Joe Biden and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, played up their mutual affection for workers’ rights Wednesday as the leaders of the Western Hemisphere’s two largest democracies met in New York, steering clear in public about their differences on Ukraine and other matters.
They announced a new partnership on supporting labor while avoiding openly discussing disagreements such as Russia’s war in Ukraine and the U.S. embargo of Cuba. In remarks to reporters, Biden and Lula were eager to display their shared goals on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

During the meetings, Biden's dependence upon note cards was noticeable, and not just with the meeting with Brazil's president:

Biden, reading his pre-written script directly from a notecard, tells Brazil's President Lula about "mobilizing hundreds of millions of dollars" for "ecosystems in Latin America" pic.twitter.com/BbJPEiHhhj
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 20, 2023

Then, White House reporter Simon Ateba spotted "the strangest thing I have seen today":

THIS IS THE STRANGEST THING I HAVE SEEN TODAY: The President of Brazil, Lula, standing next to President Biden says, “Can you hear me, President Biden?”, “President Biden, can you hear me?” WATCH pic.twitter.com/aiwDQ61YKN
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) September 20, 2023

"Can you hear me NOW?" It doesn't appear that Biden could, but it looks like he said he could anyway:

Brazil President: “Can you hear me President Biden?!”

Biden: ……….
pic.twitter.com/A2pzv9Ouog
— Katie Daviscourt (@KatieDaviscourt) September 20, 2023

At the end of a joint appearance, da Silva seemed to be preparing to go shake hands with Biden, who instead just... walked away. Brazil's president appeared annoyed and walked away in the other direction:

Brazil's President took it quite personal when Biden didn't shake his hand. 😂 pic.twitter.com/B2Lcylpiht
— Lowkey Rey 2.0 (@AtlRey) September 20, 2023