Adding to a long list of gaffes, President Joe Biden appeared to confuse Ukraine with Iraq on Wednesday.
Twice in two days, Biden, who is 80, talked about Russia’s war in Ukraine only to describe it as a war in Iraq, underscoring many Americans’ concerns about the commander-in-chief’s mental acuity.
A reporter asked Biden on Wednesday morning to comment on the extent to which Russian President Vladimir Putin has been “weakened” by recent events following the brief Wagner Group uprising.
“It’s hard to tell but he is clearly losing the war in Iraq, he’s losing the war at home and he has become a bit of a pariah around the world,” Biden said.
Q: "To what extent has Vladimir Putin been weakened by recent events?"
President Biden: "It's hard to tell but he is clearly losing the war in Iraq, he's losing the war at home and he has become a bit of a pariah around the world." pic.twitter.com/PZhYhdGDij
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 28, 2023
Biden made a similar verbal slip-up during a fundraiser in Chevy Chase, Maryland, on Tuesday, as evidenced by the official White House transcript, which crossed out “Iraq” and replaced it with “Ukraine” in brackets.
“If anybody told you — and my staff wasn’t so sure, either — that we’d be able to bring all of Europe together in the onslaught on Iraq and get NATO to be completely united, I think they would have told you it’s not likely,” Biden said. “The one thing Putin counted on was being able to split NATO.”
here's the WH transcript from the 2nd fundraiser last night pic.twitter.com/qNjBaBOm0N
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) June 28, 2023
During the same remarks, Biden quickly corrected himself after mentioning China when he meant to say India.
“You probably saw my new best friend — the prime minister of a little country that’s now the largest in the world, China — I mean, excuse me, India. India is not looking for a permanent alliance, but they’re looking for some hedge against — in the region,” he said.
Biden, who is known for regularly making gaffes and losing his train of thought while speaking, is facing increasing scrutiny as he seeks a second term in the White House.
A recent poll from NBC News found growing anxiety concerning Biden‘s fitness to serve, as more than two-thirds of registered voters — 68% — said they have moderate to major concerns about him “not having the necessary mental and physical health” to be president.
“The age and acuity question is THE central issue for Biden in this campaign,” said political commentator Chris Cillizza in response to the clip of Biden talking about Putin losing a war in Iraq.
On Monday, Biden went viral over an errant quip he made last week about profiting from the sale of state secrets, which in fact is a real concern for Republicans looking into Biden family business dealings involving foreigners from countries such as Ukraine and China.
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“I was just thanking the — anyway, I started off without you, and I sold a lot of state secrets and a lot of very important things that we shared,” Biden said on Friday during a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Big Tech CEOs.
Laughter ensued, and Biden followed by saying, “Now, all kidding aside…,” before he went on to talk about technology transforming the lives of people around the world, the official White House transcript shows.
Still, the comment prompted widespread mockery and criticism of the president on social media. “Joe Biden’s brain is going and he’s literally admitting his crimes out loud. Impeach Biden! It’s unreal and so insulting to America,” tweeted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).