Biden's 'John Wayne' quote confuses social media: 'Nobody' knows 'what he's mumbling about'

President Biden mumbling about an alleged scene from a John Wayne movie to attack climate deniers as "lying, dog-faced pony soldiers" threw off many social media users watching his speech in Vietnam.

Biden spoke at the Group of 20 leaders’ summit during a press conference in Hanoi on Sunday. During the conference, AFP White House Correspondent Aurelia End questioned the president about the lack of a consensus on fossil fuels at the summit. After appearing to ramble for several minutes, Biden then referenced the western film actor to attack climate change critics. 

"My brother was having famous lines from these movies that he always quotes, you know, and one of them is there's a movie about John Wayne as an Indian scout, and they're trying to get I think it was the patch and one of the great tribes of America back on the reservation, and he's standing with a union, so he's… they’re all on their… they're on their horses and their saddles and there's three or four Indians and headdresses and the Union soldiers are basically saying to the Indians, 'Come with me, we’ll take care of you. We’ll — everything will be good,’" Biden said.

U.S. President Joe Biden holds a press conference in Hanoi on September 10, 2023, on the first day of a visit in Vietnam. (NHAC NGUYEN/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden continued, "And the Indian scout, the Indian looks at John Wayne and points to the Union soldier and says, ‘He’s a lying, dog-faced pony soldier.’ Well, there’s a lot of lying, dog-faced pony soldiers out there about — about global warming, but not anymore. All of a sudden, they’re all realizing it’s a problem. And there’s nothing like seeing the light."

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"Pretty sure no one has ever tracked down the movie he thinks he’s referencing here," conservative media personality ALX wrote.

New York Post columnist Miranda Devine exclaimed, "Nobody can have any idea what he’s mumbling about. Why doesn’t he use the normal fixed microphone like everyone else?"

"He’s gone," cartoonist Scott Adams declared.

"Um... On top of not making sense... Isn't this borderline racist?" National Review contributor Pradheep Shanker remarked.

GOP Rapid Response Director Jake Schneider joked, "This is fine. Everything is fine."

"If he’s completely incoherent now, imagine 5 years from now," Grabien founder Tom Elliot warned.

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Biden used a nearly identical answer during a 2018 campaign event.

"As my brother who loves to use lines from movies, from John Wayne movies, there’s a line in a movie, a John Wayne movie where an Indian chief turns to John Wayne and says, 'This is a lying, dog-faced pony soldier,'" Biden said.

TMZ first reported that the phrase may in fact have come from the 1952 Tyrone Power film called "Pony Soldier." However, the full phrase, "lying, dog-faced pony soldier" does not appear in the movie, though a character at one point says, "The pony soldier speaks with the tongue of the snake that rattles."

Biden handles the microphone when answering a question in Vietnam. (Fox News)

In the 1949 John Wayne film "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," the phrase "dog-faced soldiers" is said by a narrator, though it is not directed explicitly at Wayne's character and is intended as a compliment.

"So here they are: the dog-faced soldiers, the regulars, the 50-cents-a-day professionals, riding the outposts of the nation," the narrator says. "From Fort Reno to Fort Apache, from Sheridan to Stark, they were all the same: men in dirty-shirt blue, and only a cold page in the history books to mark their passing. But wherever they rode, and whatever they fought for, that place became the United States."

President Biden previously used the phrase "lying, dog-faced pony soldiers" during a campaign event in New Hampshire back in February 2020. A Mercer University student questioned Biden on how he planned to remain competitive despite coming in fourth after the Iowa causes.

Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks to the crowd at a campaign event in Hampton Beach, NH on Feb. 9, 2020 (Fox News )

"It's a good question," Biden responded. "Number one: Iowa's a democratic caucus. You ever been to a caucus? No you haven't. You're a lying, dog-faced pony soldier. You said you were; but now you got to be honest. I'm gonna be honest with you. It was a little bit confusing in Iowa."

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Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and on Twitter: @lmkornick.