Washington

Social media was awash with a barrage of comments as US President Joe Biden after delivering nearly a 40-minute speech turned towards his right and stretched his palm in a handshake position but was left empty-handed as no one else was on stage.

"Where are the White House and Biden family handlers whose job it is to make him look good?" Harmeet K Dhillon, former vice chairwoman of the California Republican Party, said in a comment on Twitter.

Biden, who is 79 years of age, had just finished delivering a nearly 40-minute speech at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro when he turned toward his right only to handshake with thin air, reported NY Post.

Politician Robby Starbuck, who is running for Congress in Tennessee's upcoming Republican primary, remarked: "Oh man. The music makes it 10x worse. This man is unfit to be President. Period."

There was no one else on stage and no one from the applauding crowd approached the President to exchange the pleasantry, the footage of the event showed.

Biden's political adversaries reacted to the footage including Senator Ted Cruz, who tweeted an eye-roll emoji alongside footage of the air handshake.