President Joe Biden has been out of the headlines for a few weeks in the wake of his ouster from the 2024 presidential election. 

But he quickly grabbed attention this week after a bizarre performance during a meetup with firefighters at a Shanksville, Pennsylvania, fire department.

According to the New York Post, the elderly president at one point during the function donned a "Trump 2024" hat for a photo op, and was reportedly mocked by several of the people in attendance at the event.

Video of the moment when Biden put on the Trump hat quickly went viral, with many users speculating on exactly what had happened.

What's going on?

According to The Post, the president offered to trade his presidential hat for one of the attendees' Trump hat. At least that's one account of what transpired.

"I’ll give you my presidential hat," Biden reportedly said to one of the people at the first responders event. The two had a weird back-and-forth exchange, with the man reportedly mocking the president.

At one point, after asking Biden if he remembered his own name, the Trump supporter called Biden "an old fart." Biden responded by admitting, "I'm an old guy."

Ok, who had "Biden wears a Trump 2024 hat" on their bingo card? pic.twitter.com/UJuE9cxa5Z

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) September 11, 2024

The Trump supporter kept it going, telling Biden, "You’re an old fart, right?"

After some additional back-and-forth, Biden said, "He reminds me of the guys I grew up with... There was always one in the neighborhood."

White House responds

While the exact nature of what happened is still up for debate for many, the White House ultimately had to respond and explain why Biden briefly wore a Trump hat, saying it was a show of "bipartisan unity."

"At the Shanksville Fire Station, @POTUS spoke about the country's bipartisan unity after 9/11 and said we needed to get back to that. As a gesture, he gave a hat to a Trump supporter who then said that in the same spirit, POTUS should put on his Trump cap. He briefly wore it," White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates wrote on X.

Not surprisingly, many had a difficult time believing that version of the story.

While we may never find out if Biden really wore the hat as a show of unity or due to a senile moment striking at the worst time, one can be sure that plenty of Trump ads will feature Biden sporting the hat.