On Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden's verbal slips have potential consequences, as he mistakenly referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as Donald Trump, the former President and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as Vladimir Putin, President of Russia. These repeated slips, occurring amidst calls for his withdrawal from the presidential race due to concerns about cognitive decline, have further fueled doubts about his health.
During a press conference at the NATO summit, President Biden responded to a question asking if he thought Vice President Harris would struggle to defeat former President Trump if she were the Democratic presidential candidate, saying, “If I thought Trump wasn’t qualified to be president, I wouldn’t have chosen him as vice president.” He mistakenly referred to Vice President Harris as former President Trump.
Earlier, at an event for Ukraine support held before the press conference, Biden introduced President Zelensky as President "Putin." However, he returned to the podium to acknowledge his mistake, saying he was too focused on defeating President Putin. President Zelensky jokingly replied that he was better than President Putin. Despite his efforts at the NATO summit and the press conference to demonstrate his capability to fulfill the presidential duties, evaluations suggest that these efforts fell short of dispelling concerns. Nevertheless, President Biden made it clear that he had no intention of stepping down, asserting that he was the best candidate to run for president.
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