Let’s face it, Geraldo Rivera is just not the sharpest tool in the drawer at Fox News. We saw Greg Gutfeld have to school him on AR-15s after he claimed they were “machine guns” and “AR” stood for “automatic rifle.” Rivera seems to buy any kind of propaganda the Democrats and the Biden team are willing to sell.

Take, for example, the air raid sirens that blared while Joe Biden walked down the street in Kyiv, Ukraine with President Volodymyr Zelensky.

I reported how reporters from CNN and Reuters spilled the beans that there were no Russian missiles or strikes when the sirens were going off and there hadn’t been any for five days. Indeed, Biden’s team told the Russians he would be there, so they wouldn’t do anything. So much for the “secret” trip — it was secret to us but not to the Russians.

So what was the purpose of this drama? Well, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made it clear during her briefing on Thursday — it was about trying to transform tottering old Joe into some kind of brave hero.

KJP: "I mean, the trip that President Biden took to Kyiv, as many of you reported on, was historic. It was brave. […] You heard the sirens wailing in the background as the president was on the ground." pic.twitter.com/8xWIYwCao1

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 24, 2023

“I mean, the trip that President Biden took to Kyiv, as many of you reported on, was historic, it was brave,” KJP insisted. “You heard the sirens wailing in the background as the president was on the ground.”

As Grabien’s Tom Elliott shows with this supercut, some in the media were all on board with pushing this new talking point.

SUPERCUT!

Media on Biden's Kiev layover: LITERALLY HISTORY'S GREATEST HERO! pic.twitter.com/xYEOhgxJRB

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 22, 2023

When the sirens are staged, it does quite the opposite. It makes Biden look ridiculous and desperate, particularly in the wake of how he handled the Chinese spy balloon and the backlash he got for appearing weak in response.

Geraldo Rivera fell for the air raid drama — hook, line, and sinker. Charles Payne had to set him straight with a blistering dose of reality. Payne explained to Geraldo that the sirens weren’t reacting to anything, there hadn’t been anything going off in five days. “It was phony baloney Hollywood junk,” Payne declared. He also said the Biden team told Russia Biden would be there.

Fox News host TORCHES Geraldo's mustache off with flamethrower on LIVE TV as he EXPOSES Biden's STAGED visit in Ukraine— Greatest thing you'll watch today🔥 pic.twitter.com/ajWNuHOEWZ

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 23, 2023

Then Payne wrapped up with an important point: where is the attention to American needs, like the problem of some military families facing food insecurity? But service members are having to turn to food pantries because Bidenflation is so crushing they can’t afford to feed their families.

We know Ukraine has “captured” Joe Biden’s heart (or his family’s wallet), but just like he didn’t go to East Palestine, he doesn’t place Americans first, the people he’s supposed to be serving. He doesn’t seem at all concerned with how much inflation and his policies have been harming Americans. But good for Charles Payne for highlighting the issue.