Joe Biden Didn’t Confuse Ukraine for Iraq Once, But Twice – President Joe Biden hit the headlines back in June when he appeared on camera to confuse Ukraine for Iraq.
It wasn’t a mere slip of the tongue, either.
The president didn’t seem to realize he made the mistake and continued talking as though he’d said nothing wrong.
Joe Biden Looked Confused
When asked by a reporter at the time the extent to which Russian President Vladimir Putin had been weakened by the attempted Wagner uprising back in June, the president argued coherently that the Russian leader was hurt.
“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 responded.
The comment raised eyebrows, obviously – but so did his face.
The president appeared in front of reporters with what looked like a deep, long indentation on the side of his face.
The mark was later attributed by White House officials to his CPAP machine – a device used during sleep for those who suffer from sleep apnea.
Biden Keeps Making Mistakes
And if the gaffe wasn’t embarrassing enough, it wasn’t actually the first time he did it.
Earlier in June, during a fundraiser in Maryland, the president also referred to Ukraine as “Iraq.”
A transcript of the president’s comments at the Chevy Chase event show that, as he praised the strength of NATO in the face of a threat from Russia, he got the two countries – which lie on entirely different continents – confused.
“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,” he added.
Is This A Problem?
Biden isn’t the only president to confuse countries or confuse his words.
Former President George W. Bush was known for his constant mistakes and gaffes – and as writer Ben Sixsmith notes; “All rumours about senility aside, we used to lol ourselves to death about far less comical ‘Bushisms.’”
It’s true. Biden makes mistakes. Trump made mistakes. George W. Bush made mistakes, too.
There are, however, some crucial differences. First, Bush would recognize his mistakes and chuckle along with the audience when he noticed them. Sure, Biden does this too, but more often than not, they go unnoticed entirely.
Secondly, Biden is 80 years old – and the gaffes are getting worse.
Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
