President Joe Biden raised eyebrows after recent comments he made during a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, campaign event for Vice President Kamla Harris.  While speaking to a crowd of union workers, Biden attempted to relate by telling an “insanely weird” story about his great-grandfather allegedly accused of being involved with a violent Irish secret society.

Biden told the crowd, “I remember when my great-grandfather was only the second Catholic elected statewide in the state Senate here in Pennsylvania.  And I remember they talked about — when they’d run against him in 1906 — they said, ‘Guess what? He’s a Molly Maguire.’”  He added, “A lot of the English owned the coal mines.  And what they did was they really beat the hell out of the mostly Catholic population in the mines. Not a joke.”

For context, the Molly Maguires were an Irish secret society active in Ireland, part of England, and Pennsylvania, where Irish immigrants banded together.  The group had a reputation for attacking and allegedly killing, in some instances, anti-Catholic and anti-Irish mine owners during the late 19th Century in Pennsylvania.

Biden bizarrely recounted the violent tactics of the secret society in his speech.  “And Molly Maguires, if they found out the foreman was taking advantage of an individual, they would literally kill him. Not a joke. And they would bring his body up and put him on the doorstep of his family,” he said. “Kind of crude, but I gotta admit they accused my great-grandfather of being a Molly Maguire — he wasn’t, but we were so damn disappointed,” Biden joked.  “That was a joke. That was a joke,” the president emphasized as the crowd laughed.

However, Biden’s comments at the Harris-Walz rally have drawn intense criticism from conservatives on social media.  Some suggested that the “weird story” was further evidence of the president’s cognitive decline.  Trump War Room posted on X, “Cognitively impaired Joe Biden tells a weird story about how his grandfather was accused of being a “Molly Maguire” while running for political office in 1906. Kamala spent 3.5 years claiming that this guy is perfectly fit mentally for the job as president.”

Political commentator Greg Price said, “Biden just told an insanely weird story in Pittsburgh about how his grandfather was accused of being a “Molly Maguire,” Irish people who “murdered people and brought their body to the doorstep of their families.” What in the world…”

Conservative commentator and host of the “Highly Respected” podcast, Scott Greer, opined, “Whoever is writing Biden’s speeches is including some very deep cuts from American history. Molly Maguires became a common term for violent labor radicals (usually Irish) in the late 19th century. No one has used the term in a hundred years, so this just sounds weird in 2024.”

Watch Biden’s remarks below:

Another user questioned the validity of Biden’s claims about his grandfather, pointing out, “Another Biden tall-tale. The great grandfather he is referring to is Edward Francis Blewitt, elected to Penn legislature in 1907. Born in 1859. The Molly Maguires were a real thing in Easten Penn coal areas – from 1873-76. His great grandfather was 14-17 years old.”

Note:  The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.