Pressure mounts on Biden to quit after he calls Zelensky ‘Putin’ and his own VP Harris ‘Trump’
In a highly anticipated news conference following the Nato Summit in Washington DC, President Joe Biden had a few slip ups, as he battles calls from within his own party to step down.
Biden used the press conference to try and bat away questions of the concerns from supporters and donors of the Democratic Party, but fell at the first hurdle.
When asked about losing support and Vice President Kamala Harris, he answered by mixing up her name with Donald Trump’s name, saying: “I wouldn’t have picked vice president Mr Trump to be Vice President if she wasn’t qualified.”
On the future of his campaign, he said “I believe I’m the best qualified to govern. I believe I’m the best qualified to win” adding that he will stay in the race until his staff says “there’s no way you can win.”
Despite this, when he went to announce a compact that would bring together Nato countries to support Ukraine, Biden referred to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” to audible gasps in the room.
He quickly returned to the microphone: “President Putin — he’s going to beat President Putin … President Zelensky”. He went on to add “I’m so focused on beating Putin,” to explain the gaffe.
The focus on 81-year-old Biden abilities has been in the spotlight, more intensely after his performance at last month’s first Presidential debate.
Biden had a stumbling performance, plagued with unclear and rambling answers – which started the ball rolling on supporters within his own party calling on him to stand down.
Just this week, US actor George Clooney penned an op-ed for the New York Times calling on Biden to step down from the presidential race. He wrote: “We are not going to win in November with this president.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer repeatedly dodged questions about Biden’s leadership following the press conference. He told journalists “I would urge everyone to look at the substance of what’s been achieved over these two days” over support for Ukraine”.
“When we think of the global threats, that is the best possible outcome we could have had today and so I think he deserves credit for that, as does the team that worked with him.”
“We close this council with renewed confidence and resolve to meet the challenge of Russian aggression. That is the outcome we all hoped we would get to and President Biden led us through that,” he added.
Reactions
Biden’s slip up has resulted in plenty of reactions on social media, including plenty of meme – such as: