Jill Biden suffered an embarrassing mishap this week when she waited for aplause from an audience that never came during a speech about uniting those across the political spectrum.

The First Lady of the United States delivered a speech at the Reagan Institute Summit on Education on Thursday, in which she told the audience she thought they would applaud her after she pointed out the left and right have common values.

During the speech, the 71-year-old said: “I’ve visited red states and blue states and I’ve found that the common values that unite us are deeper than our divisions.”

Unfortunately, she was met with an awkward silence. In response, Dr Biden – looking confused – then joked with her audience: “And, um, I thought you might clap for that.”

The embarrassing moment was torn apart on social media, with many asking why Dr Biden and her husband, US President Joe Biden, appear to make a habit of asking for applause from their audiences.

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One wrote on Twitter: “They’re always telling people to praise them. Like Joe Biden’s “Clap, you b******s!” To our troops, no less. Bro, if you gotta tell them to applaud, you didn’t say or do anything to earn the applause.”

Another said: “They think these are applause lines, because they think everybody is consumed by the same issues they are.

“The fact is most people live their lives without hating other people, so instead of saying something profound, she’s just stating the obvious.”

Meanwhile, a third added: “What an embarrassment. Only her and her husband have to ask the crowd for an applause it’s sad.”

The embarrassing moment is not the first time Dr Biden has begged for applause from her audience.

In 2019 in Iowa she claimed her husband would stand up to the National Rifle Association (NRA).

In her speech she said: “Finally someone is standing up to the NRA and keeping our children and our schools safe.”

But the First Lady was met with silence, before throwing her arms out and saying: “That’s my applause line, come on.”

It seems it is not an unfamiliar tactic to ask for applause from an audience for politicians across the pond.

Ex-Florida Governor Jeb Bush suffered a similar awkward moment in 2016, when he asked his audience to “please clap”.

After speaking about what he felt the US needed in a leader, the audience mistook his comments on them wanting a “quieter” candidate, as an order to be silent.