Confused Biden's week of gaffes as he wanders behind podium staring at floor

13 February 2024 , 13:21

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Joe Biden's mental state has been under increased scrutiny after a series of gaffes (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

With the US Presidential election looming ever closer, concerns have once again surfaced about Joe Biden's competency and his mental agility to continue as President.

It comes after Biden was spotted shuffling around behind the podium as the King of Jordan gave a speech at the White House, seeming unsure of where he should be standing. It's believed President Biden was searching for a marker to indicate where he should be standing as he wandered around, staring at the ground during King Abdullah II of Jordan's speech.

This incident took place just days after special counsel Robert Hur decided not to recommend criminal charges against Biden for his handling of classified White House documents. The decision not to recommend charges against Biden was made partly as a jury may view him as an "elderly man with a poor memory" after Biden struggled to recall the years he served as Vice President to Barack Obama or even when his late son Beau Biden died, according to Hur's report.

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President Biden has made a series of blunders recently, calling into question his mental state (AFP via Getty Images)

"In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden's memory was worse," the report said. "He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended ('if it was 2013 — when did I stop being Vice President?'), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began ('in 2009, am I still Vice President?')."

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Egypt-Mexico mix up

As Biden defended his memory following the report, he didn't help his case when he made a pretty crucial slip-up - referring to Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi as the "president of Mexico". Not the best look for the leader of one of the world's most powerful countries.

"My memory's fine," the President argued. "Take a look at what I've done since I became president... How did that happen? I guess I just forgot what was going on."

During the press conference, he was asked about the humanitarian situation in Gaza when he managed to mix up the two countries on opposite sides of the world. He said: "I think, as you know, initially, the president of Mexico, Sisi, did not want to open up the gate to humanitarian material to get in. I talked to him. I convinced him to open the gate."

President Biden has hit out at critics claiming there's nothing wrong with his mental abilities (Getty Images)

A clip of the blunder quickly went viral and sparked a series of memes across different social media sites. Some Mexicans took to X, formerly Twitter, to share a light-hearted approach to the slip-up as they posted images of the Mexican flag with its snake-eating eagle replaced by the Egyptian eagle of Saladin from the country's coat of arms.

Egyptians followed suit, sharing images of a Mexican eagle on an Egyptian flag with one going so far as to caption it "Long Live the Arab Republic of Mexico". Others turned to the rich history and culture of both countries, using AI to create images of Mayan temples in the middle of sandy dunes near the Pyramids, sombrero-wearing taco sellers in Giza and President Al-Sisi wearing traditional Mexican clothing and strumming on a guitar.

Red state, green state

But earlier on that same day Biden had made another blunder as he spoke a the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference. He mixed up "red state and blue state" with "red state and green state".

He made the remark at the Democrats' annual policy retreat on Thursday in a speech where he rallied House Democrats around the idea that they will win the November election if they paint a clear contrast between their "unity" and the GOP's "cynical political games". While giving his remarks, he said: "When I said - when I pushed these programs - I said I'm going to be the president of everybody you live in a red state or green state."

Conversations with dead politicians

Last Wednesday Biden had another lapse in memory as he spoke at a New York fundraising event. As he spoke, he claimed to have spoken to late German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in 2021, saying Kohl had asked him what he would say if he learned 1,000 people stormed the British Parliament in an attempt to prevent the next prime minister from taking office while discussing the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Many voters are concerned that Biden is simply too old to- serve another term as President (AFP via Getty Images)

But there was an issue. Kohl did not attend the annual meeting as he has been dead since 2017. Instead, it was former German Chancellor Angela Merkel in attendance. But that's not the only late politician Biden claims to have met recently.

Speaking to a crowd in Las Vegas on Sunday a week before the Super Bowl, he said he met with Francois Mitterrand, the former French president who has been dead for 28 years. He was retelling the story of a gathering with French President Emmanual Macron at a G7 meeting not long before he entered the White House when he slipped up.

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Biden told those in attendance: "I saw down, and I said, 'America's back'. And Mitterand from Germany - I mean from France looked at me and said..." The president then took a second to gather his thoughts before finishing: "Well, how long are you back for?" Mitterand was president of France from 1981 to 1995 and passed away in 1996.

Biden joins TikTok

As the campaign to retain the White House ramps up, Biden has been spotted joining popular social media app TikTok in an attempt to target a younger demographic of voters - despite it being banned on most US government devices. The 81-year-old president launched his account on Sunday during the Super Bowl under the username @bidenhq.

Biden has made a series of slip-ups in recent weeks (AFP via Getty Images)

His first post was a video captioned "lol hey guys" in which aides quizzed Biden about his preferences for Super Bowl LVIII which saw the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime. In 2022, the president himself signed legislation blocking most federal government devices from accessing TikTok.

The account will not be run by the president himself but by his campaign team, according to aides. Despite the app being banned on government devices, it remains incredibly popular with young people in the US - a demographic Democrats are keen to energise for the election in November.

But it's going to take more hopping on a few trending bandwagons for Biden to secure the votes of younger voters, who tend to lean more toward the Democrats. According to opinion polls, up to 75 per cent of those expected to case their ballots in November believe he is too old for the judge, not helped by recent gaffes and blunders.

Fiona Leishman