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Joe Biden has done it once again. This time the President of the United Stated has mixed up European heads of state, twice conflating German Chancellor Angela Merkel with late former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl while speaking to donors at fundraisers on Wednesday.
During his speech, the President goofed up Merkel with Kohl who died in 2017 where he told a well-worn story about his first Group of Seven summit after taking office in 2021.
Here’s what Biden said:
“First got elected president I went to a G7 meeting with 7 heads of state in Europe and I sat down and said Americas back. And president of France looked at me and said – for how long? And I never thought of it this way. And then Helmut kohl of Germany looked at me and said what would you say Mr President if you picked up the London times tomorrow morning and learned there’s 1000 broken down the doors of the British parliament. Killed some (?) on the way in. to deny the next prime minister to take office. And you think, what would we think?”’ Biden said at the second of three Manhattan fundraisers. He repeated the mistake while telling the story again at his third stop.
“”It’s interesting to hear the first meeting I attended as president of the united states, it was in Great Britian. I showed up…and I sat down and said “America’s back” and macron looked at me and said for how long? How long? Not a joke. And with that. (inaudible) Helmut kohl said, Joe what would you think if you picked up the phone and picked up the paper tomorrow and learned in the London times on the front page that 1000 people stormed the parliament, broke down the doors of the House of Commons and killed 2 bobbies in the process and trying to stop the election of a prime minister. I thought about that. And I mean this sincerely, think about it. What would you think if another country, not nearly as powerful as us…” he said at the third event.
Merkel, the German chancellor at the time, subsequently evoked the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by asking Biden what his reaction would be if a mob broke into the House of Commons to disrupt the election of a British prime minister.
This flap comes just two days before Biden is expected to welcome the current German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, to the White House for meetings on securing additional aid for Ukraine.
Biden confuses Macron with Mitterrand
Prior to this, on Sunday, Biden bungled the story conflating rench President Emmanuel Macron with French President François Mitterrand, who died in 1996 some 25 years before the summit. “Mitterrand from Germany — I mean, from France — looked at me and said ‘You know, what — why, how long you back for?’” Biden said.
The repeated missteps also come as Biden, 81, is battling concerns about his age which have weighed heavily on his reelection prospects. Three-quarters of voters said they had concerns about Biden’s mental and physical health in an NBC News poll released earlier this week.
After the recent goof up, netizens too have called out the President. Reactions started pouring in on X. One user reacted saying, “Trump’s random shit actually helps him. When he tells people Haley messed up on January 6 they believe it. Helmut Kohl references do nothing for JoBi”
Another user on X wrote, “Look what that drooling buffoon Biden did now . His mind is beyond ruined. President Joe Biden once again mixed up European heads of state, twice conflating former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel while speaking to donors at fundraiser”
Some other wrote, “Biden has now claimed to communicate with the ghosts of long-dead world leaders Helmut Kohl, Francois Mitterand, and Margaret Thatcher. What’s next? Will he discuss a recent brunch with Brezhnev? A phone call with Yitzhak Shamir? A conference with Pope John Paul II?”
Some other wrote, “Biden changed up the fabricated Mitterrand anecdote and replaced him with Helmut Kohl (also long dead).”
One user joked, “These gaffes make me think Biden enjoyed telling Obama stories about Cold War era politicians. “Barack, did I tell you about that time I met Helmut Kohl, the chancellor of West Germany?” “Yes you did, Joe, on the flight to the last G20 summit””
Biden has made similar public mistakes in the past. In September 2022, he called on a deceased congresswoman at a conference she helped organize. “Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie? I think she was going to be here,” he said, referring to Indiana representative Jackie Walorski, who had died a month earlier.
And in April last year, a White House transcript corrected Biden when he confused New Zealand’s All Blacks rugby team with the Black and Tans, a British military force notorious for its involvement in the Irish War of Independence. The transcript of his speech, given in a pub in Ireland, crossed out “Black and Tans” and inserted “All Blacks”.
Earlier, Trump, 77, confused Hungarian leader Viktor Orban and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a campaign speech in November. Last month, Trump had repeatedly substituted Republican rival Nikki Haley’s name when complaining that former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had not provided adequate security at the Capitol on Jan. 6. On which, Biden subsequently tweaked Trump over the mistake in a post to X and wrote, “I don’t agree with Nikki Haley on everything, but we agree on this much: She is not Nancy Pelosi.”
Here’s your comprehensive 3-minute summary of all the things Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget speech: Click to download!
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