Ukrainian President Putin?

The first mistake that Biden made was calling Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky “President Putin”.

While introducing Zelensky, Biden said, “and now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination, ladies and gentlemen, president Putin.”

With the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, beginning in February 2022 in which the US has supported Ukraine, and with the war being the main topic of discussion in the Washington NATO summit, this slip-up does not look well for Biden.

Vice President Trump?

Some time after the first mistake, at a news conference in the evening, Biden was asked about his confidence in Kamala Harris. “Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if she was not qualified to be president,” Biden replied.

Of course, former president Trump is the Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election, meaning that as it remains, Biden is set to run against Trump. Calling VP Kamala Harris, whom he plans to run with again in 2024, his rival in the upcoming presidential election.

Who is the Commander in Chief again?

Biden referred to the Chiefs of Staff, the United States’ top uniformed military leaders, as Commander in Chief, which is the role of US president – who is Biden himself.

Biden spoke, “and so our military is working on following the advice of my commander in chief my, my, my, the chiefs of staff, of the military as well as the Secretary of Defense and our intelligence people.”

Reactions

During the press conference, Biden again reaffirmed his staying in the presidential race: “I’m not in this for my legacy. I’m in this to complete the job.”

After Biden’s press conference, the top ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Connecticut congressman Jim Himes, said “we must put forth the strongest candidate possible to confront the threat posed by Trump’s promised MAGA authoritarianism. I no longer believe that is Joe Biden.”

While people have already been showing support of alternative Democrats to be the nominee, Biden says that he has received support from the other members of NATO. He noted, “I’ve not had any of my European allies come up and say, ‘Joe, don’t run’. What I’ve heard them say is, ‘You’ve got to win.’”

The New York Times reported that Democratic donors of Future Forward, the largest Political Action Committee (PAC) that supports Biden, will be withholding around $90mn dollars if the current president remains in the race for the White House.

Nevertheless, there are a sizable number of high ranking Democratic officials who have already spoken against the idea of Biden running for re-election, calling on other candidates to step up.