Biden defends his candidacy despite confusing Kamala Harris with Trump and Zelensky with Putin | USA Elections

When the special prosecutor investigating him described 81-year-old Joe Biden as a well-intentioned old man with a bad memory, the US president looked angry, but he fumbled his response by confusing Mexico with Egypt. This Thursday, about two hours before appearing at a press conference that became a cognitive ability test, Biden misidentified Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” at an event at the NATO summit. With this, the press conference got off to a bad start. And in response to the first question, he referred to Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump.” Still, the president has insisted that he is best suited to defeat Donald Trump and that he will run for re-election. “I’m not in this for my legacy. I’m here to finish the work I started,” he said. He defended that age gives him “wisdom.”

The press conference started about an hour late. During the time it should have been on, you could see workers doing image and decoration tests, moving things around and nervously moving from one place to another. The White House, unsurprisingly, gave an image of disarray and improvisation, far from the professionalism and resolve with which an event like this is supposed to be organized. And the more the start was delayed, the more often television stations repeated the mistake Biden had made before, increasing its impact. Also, the delay fueled speculation that the president was preparing to announce his retirement.

Biden appeared at a lectern, with eight United States flags behind him and with the typical decorations of the NATO summit, where its 75th anniversary was celebrated. Some of the president’s team, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, sat in the front row. In his opening intervention, Biden has used the screen teleprompter to read. He had some coughing and throat clearing, although he managed to clear his throat. In his opening remarks he spoke about NATO’s role in countering the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its importance to the security of the United States.

He then highlighted a drop in inflation, one of the problems that has affected his popularity during his tenure. This Thursday it was revealed that prices fell in June for the first time in four years. He further said that his measures to secure the border had seen arrests for illegal crossings fall by more than half in recent weeks. And then he defended his policy in Gaza.

After a speech of about seven and a half minutes, he answered questions. There was no point in raising hands. The shifts had already been designated and Biden read them from a list. The first was about his decision to run for re-election and the ability of Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him. That’s when he said that he would not have chosen “Vice President Trump” (in reference to Harris) if he did not have the ability to replace him. His opponent immediately mocked him through his social networks: “Great job, Joe!” Trump wrote in Truth Social.

Apart from that lapse, the previous mistake about Zelensky and some others (such as Europe via Asia), Biden has handled reporters’ questions relatively well, although perhaps delving too much into foreign policy controversies that do not reach citizens. He has made it clear at all times that he wishes to run for re-election, that he is going to fight and that he wishes to defeat Trump. “I beat him once, and I will beat him again,” he said.

His thesis is that he knows how to govern, even if he sometimes uses the wrong word in public. Before expressing his gratitude for his role at the NATO summit, for the expansion of the alliance, for his handling of the Ukraine crisis, he asked himself, “How can I say this without sounding overly arrogant? He tells me: ‘Joe, don’t come across as a front.’ I’ve heard him say: ‘You have to win,’ he said.

The president has blamed his team for filling his agenda too much before the debate (despite the fact that they were locked down for a week to prepare it) and that it was a “stupid mistake”. “I love my staff. But they add things to the schedule of activities, he complained.

not so great success

The NATO summit has ended as predicted. More military aid to Ukraine, unity with some nuances of the alliance, increased focus on Asia and the south. This could be considered a success, although in reality everything is well thought out and there is little room for surprise. Nor have there been extraordinary achievements that allow Biden to present himself to American citizens as a great statesman.

Biden himself pointed to the NATO summit as a moment to demonstrate his qualifications to be president. “I think a good way to judge me now would be that the NATO summit is going to be held in the United States next week. Let’s listen. See what they say,” he said in an interview with ABC News last week. However, the most viral moment of the summit is when Biden confuses Zelensky’s name with Putin’s and then excuses himself by saying that the point is that he is obsessed with defeating Putin.

Joe Biden has been trying for two weeks to erase the terrible impression he gave in the CNN debate against Donald Trump in Atlanta. On that day, the president of the United States confirmed the worst fears of those who believed that, at 81, he was not in the best position to be re-elected and lead the leading world power for the next four years. Despite Biden’s attempts to dispel doubts, neither have the memories of the televised meeting faded nor has the debate over its continuation stopped. Pressure is mounting on the president on the political, media and financial fronts.

Biden also presented other low-profile interviews with ABC News last week, and this Thursday’s press conference as key moments to relaunch the initiative. Friday’s interview did not go very well. Biden did not wreck the ship like in the debate, but he had problems completing some of his arguments. On the other hand, it has become known in recent days that two of his interviews to radio stations were a kind of pantomime in which the White House facilitated the questions and suggested editing the answers.

The press conference remained, but lowering the standard to the point of whether the president is able to answer a few questions without getting flustered is almost like admitting defeat. In that sense, he expressed himself The Wall Street Journal A Democratic congressman, Adam Smith: “Are we really having a serious conversation about whether our candidate can hold a press conference? The mere fact that we’re having the conversation at this point in the campaign tells us everything there is to know about what needs to be done,” he said.

(Breaking news. Will update soon)

Follow all the information about the elections in the United States Our weekly newsletter,