US President Joe Biden vowed he would remain in this year presidential race, but two critical mistakes in the span of two hours deepened concerns about his mental acuity that threaten his campaign.
Biden, 81, saw the culmination of this week’s NATO summit as a chance to reassure allies who for two weeks had fretted about his abilities following his first debate performance against former US president Donald Trump. Over a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and a nearly hour-long news conference, he spoke confidently on a range of complex issues from the tax code and trade policy to Russia and the Israel-Hamas war.
However, with no margin for error, Biden mistook two of his biggest allies for his greatest enemies.
Photo AFP
The president drew gasps — and instant mockery online — when he mistakenly introduced Zelenskiy as Russian President Vladimir Putin at an event in the late afternoon. Then, at the opening of the press conference, he fumbled a question about US Vice President Kamala Harris by saying he “wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president” if he did not have confidence in her.
The solo news conference, Biden’s first this year, was designed to show that he has the stamina and adeptness to make a case to voters they should elect him over Trump in November. His dedicated allies said they were buoyed as he took questions from 11 reporters, and displayed more humility than he has in recent days about the difficult political road ahead.
“I’m determined on running, but I think it’s important that I allay fears,” Biden said.
However, with viewers hanging on his every word, early signs indicated Biden’s performance was not enough to ease the intraparty turmoil that was set off after his debate against Trump.
Almost immediately after the press conference ended, at least three more US House Democrats, including Representative Jim Himes, the top member from his party on the Intelligence Committee, joined the growing list of lawmakers calling on Biden to step aside.
One member of a NATO delegation said after the press conference that their nation’s leader did not think Biden could survive the crisis consuming his presidency, even though the summit in Washington was generally praised by participants for its substance.
At the same time, Trump met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban — whose recent meeting with Putin in Moscow drew the ire of many NATO leaders — according to an Instagram post on the European leader’s verified account.
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