Joe Biden mixes up wars and drops ice cream on floor after being smuggled into Harvard for a speech

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS: If Harvard thought they could sneak Joe Biden in and out of campus for a secret cameo, that plan appears to have flopped.

The former president was supposed to make a quiet, low-key visit to the Ivy League’s Institute of Politics on Wednesday, April 16. It was meant to be under wraps—a little intimate chat with about 50 Kennedy School students—billed mysteriously as a “special guest” appearance. 

Maybe Harvard was hoping to keep things hush-hush because it’s not exactly on the best of terms with sitting President Donald Trump these days. After all, they’re in the middle of a very public $2.2 billion funding freeze, and there are threats hanging over their tax-exempt status. Not exactly the ideal moment to roll out the red carpet for Biden.

Joe Biden spills ice cream and mixes up wars during Harvard speech

Outside, pro-Palestinian protesters were not having it. They came ringing bells, banging drums, and broke out a chant that echoed through Harvard Yard. “Biden, Biden, you can’t hide. You’re committing genocide,” the group yelled, according to The Harvard Crimson.

The protest was reportedly pulled together by the group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine, and it definitely disrupted the hush-hush ambiance Harvard had hoped for. 

Inside, things weren’t going much smoother either. Biden, now 82, was joined by his ever-loyal sidekick, Mike Donilon, who is now at Harvard as a resident fellow. Good thing he was there too, because at one point Biden mixed up Ukraine with Iraq while discussing the war with Russia, and Donilon had to jump in and set the record straight.

After his speech, Biden tried to enjoy an ice cream bar. But it backfired. According to The Crimson, he bit into the bar and it fell apart, melting and dropping onto the floor. 

During the invite-only session, Biden made sure to give Harvard props for standing firm against pressure from the Trump administration.

He praised the university for pushing back against demands to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, allow an independent audit of their teaching standards, and vet international students more aggressively to “prevent admitting students hostile to American values.”

“Harvard stepped up in a way no one else has. You should be really thankful," Biden gushed, the New York Post reported.

From segregated schools to social security slam 

Joe Biden broke his post-presidency silence at a disability rights conference on Tuesday, April 15. "I said I've been doing this a long time, it's never been this divided. Granted, it's roughly 30 percent, but it's a 30 percent that has no heart," he said.

He also brought up some bizarre memories of his childhood in Wilmington, Delaware, during the era of school segregation. In doing so, he sparked outrage by using outdated racial terminology.

"There were hardly any Black people in Scranton at the time … and I was only going into fourth grade. And I remember seeing kids going by, at the time called colored kids, on a bus going by," he said.

Biden also took aim at Trump’s Social Security policy. "Why are these guys taking aim at Social Security now?" he asked. "Well, they're following that old line from tech startups. The quote is 'move fast, break things.' They're certainly breaking things. They're shooting first and aiming later."