President Biden’s cringeworthy joke about nuclear bombs fell flat Wednesday, drawing sharp online criticism for his awkward attempt at humor. 

During a visit to a windmill factory in Pueblo, Colorado, Mr. Biden bizarrely blurted out, “My Marine carries that and has the code to blow up the world.”

“Nuclear weapons,” Mr. Biden added while talking to a factor worker, who asked the president a question that was inaudible in a video circulating on social media. 

The joke bombed on social media, with some of the 81-year-old president’s critics wondering what he meant in the head-scratching exchange.

“It should be illegal for this cognitively impaired man to be in charge of the nuclear codes,”  Rogan O’Handley of the DC Draino newsletter wrote on X. 

Conservative critic Benny Johnson deadpanned that the comments were “Totally normal Joe Biden quotes.” 

Another critic, Connor Hennessey wrote, “In today’s edition of what if Trump said that?”

Presidents are traditionally accompanied by an official carrying the briefcase that can be used to authorize a nuclear attack, during trips outside the White House. The so-called nuclear football includes a card that contains the codes for authorizing such a strike.

However, it is very unusual for a president to acknowledge its presence, much less to factory workers or other civilians who have not passed security background checks.

• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.