Joe Biden mocked for shaking hands with thin air after speech

Joe Biden was left empty-handed as he appeared to shake hands with thin air after a speech on the United State’s ongoing supply chain woes.

The 79-year-old President had just finished delivering a nearly 40-minute speech in Greensboro, North Carolina, when he turned to his right and stuck out his hand, despite being alone on the stage.

A number of his political adversaries, including Republic Senator Ted Cruz, seized on Mr Biden’s latest gaffe, using it to question his cognitive state.

Footage of the moment, shared by millions on social media, showed the gaffe-prone President turn to his right, before he appeared to say something into empty space while miming a handshake.

Mr Biden then turned back to his audience, looking disoriented while aides and guests at the university applauded his speech.

His speech had been aimed at ramping up pressure on Congress to increase funding for semiconductor funding amid a shortfall of the key component.

As his political rivals questioned the President’s mental state, Mr Cruz shared the video, with a wide-eyed emoji as the caption.

Harmeet K. Dhillon, a former vice chairwoman of the California Republican Party, wrote: “I repeat, where are the White House and Biden family handlers whose job it is to make him look good?

“This is truly bizarre, unless they want him to look like a dementia patient.”

Robby Starbuck, who is running for Congress in Tennessee’s upcoming Republican primary, said: “Oh man. The music makes it 10x worse. This man is unfit to be President. Period.”

Mr Biden's gaffes have become more frequent in recent months. Earlier this month, he said First Lady Jill Biden had served as Barack Obama's vice president, a job he had held himself for eight years.

And he irked fellow Western leaders after going off script to call for regime change in Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.

In his Greensboro speech, Mr Biden claimed to have served as a "full professor" at the University of Pennsylvania despite never teaching a class there.