At his solo Washington D.C. press conference on Thursday, President Biden made an embarrassing mistake by calling Kamala Harris the “vice president Trump” while answering the first question.
“Bear in mind I would not pick vice president as vice president that is not qualified to be president,” the president remarked, confusing Harris with former U.S. President, Donald Trump.
The final question from a journalist addressed this when he asked Biden what the gaffe was that Donald trump had once used it to mock him and in turn he said, “Just listen to him,” smiling and left the stage.
Earlier at Nato event before the press conference, Biden even falsely referred to Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin.” ‘And now I’m going to turn it over to the United States’ Ukrainian President who has just as much courage as he does determination and that’s Mr. Putin Or rather,” This was during a NATO summit in Washington on July 10th.
This one-hour solo press conference was viewed as a critical opportunity for Biden to prove his mettle in handling complex questions and quick thinking outside of scripted engagements especially amidst growing Democrat pressure for him to drop out from 2024 presidential election which escalated after his poor show in June 27th Parami News debate against Donald Trump and subsequent inability of his campaign organization to respond effectively to voter concerns about his health.
Nevertheless, this did not seem assuage Democrats’ fears. Within minutes after Biden walked off the stage, statements were release by Connecticut Representative Jim Himes who is also Democratic chairperson of House Intelligence Committee, and Californian Democrat Scott Peters calling on the incumbent occupant of White House drop out of 2024 presidential race. Peters remarked that there is too much at stake: we are losing our way all together.
During the week and throughout the press conference, Biden continued to reject any notion or posibility that he might or should leave the race, saying he was the only person who could defeat Trump in November. He did admit to being open to quitting politics if his team tells him that there is no way that he can win.
But, instead of saving his floundering campaign, the president’s speeches were fraught with verbal blunders and many times he lost coherence while answering journalists’ questions at a press conference held alone. On Truth Social, Trump and his campaign posted several clips featuring Biden’s gaffes.
In another notable slip, Biden referred to his chief of staff as “my commander in chief” before correcting himself. The president said that as the American commander-in-chief, he would consult “my commander-in-chief” on issues relating to arming Ukraine.
This was his first solo news conference in 8 months. The last time Biden had a solo news conference was in November when he met President Xi Jinping of China for talks.
