JOE Biden suffered a series of gaffes and slip-ups during the G7 summit over the weekend, with world leaders openly laughing at his forgetfulness at one stage.
The US president's most bizarre blunder came during a conference between the G7 members and leaders of a number of non-member nations, including South Africa, India, and South Korea.
Read our Joe Biden press conference live blog for the latest news and updates…
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had been introducing the leaders of those non-member nations in the moments before.
"Welcome, those who have just joined us, we have some pretty spectacular weather. We have Prime Minister Modi [India], President Ramaphosa [South Africa], President Moon [South Korea] in just a minute," Johnson said.
A confused Biden then interrupted the PM, falsely telling Johnson that he'd failed to introduce Ramaphosa, despite him saying his name just seconds earlier.
"And the president of South Africa," Biden told Johnson.
Johnson then said: "And the president of South Africa, as I said earlier on."
"Oh, you did," Biden said, prompting Johnson to reply: "I did, I certainly did."
Other G7 leaders were heard laughing around the table at Biden's forgetfulness. The US president then joined in.
Another awkward exchange came during the G7 conference when Biden was asked what appeared to be a straightforward question by a reporter waiting outside.
"How are your meetings going in Cornwall, Mr. President?"
"I beg your pardon," Biden responded, before first lady Jill interupted.
"Joe, come on," Jill said as she frantically waved her arms, motioning him to come over to her. She then took his hand and led him away.
The exchange prompted laughter to break out among those around the Bidens.
The Jewish Voice said in a tweet that it appeared Biden had got "lost and Jill comes to the rescue."
The following day, during a Sunday press conference, Biden fumbled over his words while speaking about Russia and confused Libya for Syria on three separate occasions.
The error-prone president spoke about the possibility of working with Russia to provide "vital assistance to Libya … a population that's really in trouble."
He then said Russia was overwhelmed in its intervention efforts in "Syria", but then added "Libya" into the fold.
"As long as they’re there without the ability to bring about some order in the region, you can’t do that very well without providing for the basic economic needs of people," Biden said.
"So, I’m hopeful that we can find an accommodation where we can save the lives of people in, for example, in Libya."
Biden was widely hounded on Twitter for the slip-up.
He once again fell victim to ridicule when he falsely declared he'd been in office for 120 days when responding to a question from a reporter regarding concerns over sanctions.
Speaking in a strange, hoarse whisper, Biden said: "120 days, gimme a break. I need time."
At the time of the comment, Biden had actually been in office for 145 days.
During the same press conference, Biden told reporters "I'm sorry, I'm going to get in trouble with staff if I don't do this the right way," before selecting Bloomberg to ask him a question.
Biden has previously used a "cheat sheet" to help him to determine who he should field questions from.
He also confused COVID-19 and COVAX during the same speech. COVAX is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to coronavirus vaccines.
"COVID, I know you all know, but a lot of people may not know what COVID is, that is a system whereby they're going to provide funding for states to get access to vaccines," Biden said.
He made the same error three different times.
Sky News host Peta Credlin said questions had been raised about Biden's "mental acuity" after the series of embarrassing gaffes.
Prior to the G7 summit, first lady Jill Biden had said that her husband was "so well prepared for the conference."
"He's been studying for weeks working up for today," she said. "He knows most of the leaders that will be here. Joe loves foreign policy. This is his forte."
Source: Read Full Article