Anyone? Biden sticks out his hand and appears to ‘shake thin air’

President Joe Biden looked lost again Thursday after finishing a speech on the nation’s ongoing supply chain crisis when he turned around and stuck his hand out as if to shake hands – but there was no one else on stage.  

The 79-year-old president claimed before the handshake fiasco that he had served as a ‘full professor’ at the University of Pennsylvania despite never teaching a class at the school, in yet another gaffe that has Republicans questioning Biden’s cognitive abilities.

Last week, Biden looked disoriented during an event that saw former President Barack Obama visit the White House for the first time since leaving office. 

Immediately after ending the speech in Greensboro, North Carolina, with the signoff ‘God bless you all,’ footage from the Thursday event shows Biden turning to his right and seemingly saying something to the empty space behind him before miming a handshake – suggesting the president did not know he was alone at the podium. 

In the clip, the aging Democrat proceeds to frantically look around the stage with a bewildered look on his face, before beginning to wander aimlessly around the crowded auditorium after realizing there was no one to shake hands with. 

The president then bizarrely turned his back to the audience, looking lost on the stage as music rolled, marking the speech’s conclusion. 

The strange behavior from Biden – the latest of several brain lapses by the president in recent years – instantly sparked a firestorm online, with many, including Texas Senator Cruz, 51, pointing to the politician’s most recent display of possible cognitive deterioration.

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In a post published minutes after the speech’s conclusion, the Texas rep re-shared the clip of Biden – the oldest-ever US president – with a caption that included a wide-eyed emoji. 

Others called Biden’s actions at the end of the speech ‘elder abuse’ and questioned his mental state.

‘Where are the White House and Biden family handlers whose job it is to make him look good?’ wrote Harmeet K. Dhillon, former vice chairwoman of the California Republican Party following the display. ‘This is truly bizarre,’ the Republican lawyer went on, ‘unless they WANT him to look like a dementia patient.’ 

Politician Robby Starbuck, meanwhile, who is running for Congress in Tennessee’s upcoming Republican Primary, remarked: ‘Oh man. The music makes it 10x worse. This man is unfit to be President. Period.’

Newsweek reporter Greg Price joked, ‘All of the leading doctors agree that shaking hands with the air is just a symptom of a stutter,’ lambasting the president’s previous remarks concerning the coronavirus. 

The president had been visiting Greensboro to see North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University as part of an effort to apply pressure on Congress to approve the Bipartisan Innovation Act, which aims to increase funding for domestic production of semiconductors.    

He told the crowd that 70 percent of U.S. inflation could be blamed on Russian Leader Vladimir Putin. 

‘What people don’t know is that 70% of the increase in inflation was the consequence of Putin’s Price Hike,’ he said. 

Inflation soared to a 41-year high of 8.5 percent in March, according to the latest figures from the Labor Department. The Consumer Price Index increased 1.2 percent in March just from the previous month. 

The speech also saw Biden bizarrely claim that he used to be a ‘full professor’ at the University of Pennsylvania. 

‘I’ve been at a lot of university campuses, matter of fact for four years, I was a full professor at the University of Pennsylvania.’

Biden collected nearly $1 million from the university after being given a vague role and teaching no regular classes. 

The president was named Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor, the first person to hold the role, in 2017. He did not teach regular classes but made about a dozen public appearances on the campus, mostly at big-ticketed events, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. He collected a pay check in 2017, 2018 and early 2019. 

Six months out from the midterm election, Biden is increasing his domestic travel schedule with competitive states on the agenda. In addition to North Carolina on Thursday, Biden was in Iowa on Tuesday. He’s scheduled to travel to North Carolina on Tuesday of next week. 

‘Our economy created 431,000 jobs in the month of March alone,’ he said, adding that he’s created ‘7.9 million jobs over the course of my presidency, more jobs in the 14 months I’ve been president than any president ever created in American history. 

He added that North Carolina has created 194,000 jobs in the last 14 months.

But questions remains as to whether voters will buy Biden’s jobs argument. The president’s approval rating has dropped as inflation has rose.

It hit an all-time low on Wednesday, according to a Quinnipiac poll which revealed that only 33 percent of respondents believe Biden is doing a good job as president. 

The concerning display from the president – who has come under fire for repeated lapses that have seen him confuse Libya and Syria and mistakenly call Vice President Kamala Harris ‘president’ – comes just 9 days after he looked lost during Obama’s return to the White House last Tuesday, as reporters flocked to the former president, leaving Biden alone to wander aimlessly.    

During the event, which saw Obama deliver a speech to thunderous applause, the former president was seen shaking hands with fans and fellow politicians in the East room, while Biden wandered around looking confused.

In another clip, Biden was seen standing behind Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris as they shook hands with people, while he watched on – with no one seemingly paying the president any mind.   

Several polls show Biden’s approval at a dismal 39 percent and an average from Real Clear Politics has the president averaging a 53.7 percent disapproval rating.