Joe Biden Just Made Another Gaffe – President Joe Biden is renowned for his gaffes, but it was his press secretary who was the center of a bizarre incident in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi on Sunday.
Joe Biden: The Latest Strange Incident
The President was speaking during a press conference on the way back from the G20 Summit in New Delhi, India, when he was cut off by press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mid-sentence. Biden, 80, left the stage shortly afterwards.
The Democrat often faces criticism for his public speaking gaffes from conservatives, including former president Donald Trump. A gaffe while addressing Canadian lawmakers, in which President Biden referred to his nation’s neighbor as China caused former President Donald Trump to brand his Biden as a “disaster.”
The Latest Mishap
Having been blasted for the “rambling” nature of his answers about a recent meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang earlier in the week, the President was responding to questions in Hanoi before being interrupted.
“We talked about stability,” Biden said about his conversation with China’s second in command. “We talked about making sure that the third world, excuse me, the southern hemisphere, had access to change and access. It wasn’t confrontational at all.”
Press secretary Jean-Pierre subsequently halted Biden, telling reporters: “Thank you everybody. This ends the press conference. Thanks, everyone.”
The latest incident comes days after Franklin Foer’s new book, The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden’s White House and the Struggle for America’s Future, which has been seen as the most comprehensive insight into the Biden White House yet. After the former New Republic editor alleged that staff and aides treated the President “like a baby,” Jean-Pierre was forced to deny the allegations – seemingly contradicted only days later.
Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy said that Biden had been “working through the night” following his arrival in Hanoi from India. “We expect a short statement off the top just about how the G20 in India and how its meetings went here with the Communist Party in Vietnam,” Doocy said prior to the press conference.
“And then as many questions as he wants to take, he has been basically working all through the night, the equivalent of an all-nighter Eastern time, so he’s probably pretty tired, pretty jet-lagged,” Doocy added. “But he should take at least a handful.”
Biden himself referred to a tactic where Jean-Pierre would tell him which reporters to call on questions so he could “get a sense” of what the media would be asking him. “They gave me five people here,” Biden said on Sunday. “I’m just following my orders here.”
Nevertheless, the incident will be worrying for the Democrats, 56% of whom in a recent CNN poll expressed serious concern for the President’s physical and mental competence.
Shay Bottomley is a British journalist based in Canada. He has written for the Western Standard, Maidenhead Advertiser, Slough Express, Windsor Express, Berkshire Live and Southend Echo, and has covered notable events including the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
