WASHINGTON ― Barely two hours after mixing up Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin in public remarks, President Joe Biden mixed up his own vice president, Kamala Harris, with his coup-attempting predecessor, Donald Trump at a high-stakes news conference Thursday evening ― a gaffe likely to exacerbate concerns about his ability to beat Trump in November.
In the very first question he was asked about his confidence in Harris, Biden said: “I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if I didn’t think she was not qualified to be president.”
At a closing event of the NATO summit earlier, Biden had mistakenly referred to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy as Russia’s “President Putin” before quickly correcting himself.
Democrats uneasy about Biden’s disastrous performance at his June 27 debate against Trump and looking for a solid showing at an extended news conference likely were not reassured.
Although he looked healthier and sounded sharper and more confident than he did at his debate, Biden went on to suffer several smaller verbal stumbles. He told reporters gathered at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center that he follows the “advice of his commander in chief” before correcting himself to say “chief of staff.” Referring to the June jobs report released week, he said he just created “2,000” jobs when he meant 200,000.
Later, he acknowledged he should probably modify his work schedule so that he is no longer starting his day at 7 a.m. and working past midnight. “I’ve just got to pace myself a little more,” he said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, President Joe Biden and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg take their seats Thursday for a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council in Washington.
He also acknowledged that he has kept to his busy schedule in part to quell Democrats’ concerns. “I think it’s important that I allay fears,” he said.
As to worries about his age, Biden, as he has in the past, tried to turn it to his advantage: “The only thing that age does is it creates a little bit of wisdom if you pay attention.”
Concerns about Biden’s age were largely set aside after Democrats’ surprisingly strong showing in the 2022 midterm elections, when an expected “red wave” did not materialize.
Biden then went on to deliver strong State of the Union speeches in 2023 and this March, again calming fears about his ability to mount a full-blown election campaign. One had not been necessary in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic made a largely virtual campaign seem both reasonable and responsible.
Democrats were hopeful that his challenging Trump to debate this year showed he was ready to deliver another strong performance, and maybe change the trajectory of a race that remained stubbornly close to a tie, even after Trump was convicted of 34 felonies following a New York City trial.
Those hopes collapsed in a matter of 15 minutes on the night of June 27, though, as Biden, looking pale, stumbled through non sequitur after non sequitur in a weak voice.
It’s unclear how Thursday’s news conference will affect the thinking of Democratic lawmakers, donors and voters.
Biden and Democrats have until mid-August to decide whether they will stick with him or choose a different nominee at their party’s convention in Chicago.
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