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‘Vice President Trump’: US President Joe Biden dazed and confused, again, while hosting solo press conference

Max Corstorphan
The Nightly
Joe Biden has yet another slip up as he addresses the media.

President Joe Biden has held a rare solo press conference in Washington D.C. following a busy day of NATO Summit events and has suffered another stumble, just hours after calling the Ukraine president “President Putin”

The press conference was widely seen as an opportunity for the president to prove to voters that he can handle tough questions without a Teleprompter following his disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump in June.

‘Vice President Trump’

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US President Joe Biden, 81, spoke on Thursday, about 7.30pm local time, where he quickly mixed up Vice President Kamala Harris with political rival Donald Trump.

“Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be Vice President, but I think she was not qualified to be president,” he told reporters.

Bad Nights

Biden was pressed on how he knew he wasn’t going to have bad nights, like the debate, especially when running the country.

“The best way to assure them (American voters) is the way I assure myself, and that is, am I getting the job done.”

“Am I getting the job done? Can you name somebody who has gotten more major pieces of legislation passed in three and a half years? I created 2,000 jobs just last week. If I slow down, I can’t get the job done. That is a sign that I shouldn’t be doing it. There is no indication of that yet. None!”

‘President Putin’

AFP journalist Danny Kemp brought up an earlier gaffe made by Biden when he introduced the Ukraine President as “President Putin”.

The two laughed about this slip-up.

“Did you see any damage in our standing of my leading this conference?” Biden asked back.

“Have you seen a more successful conference?”

Not stepping down

“You earlier explained confidence in your vice president,” a journalist asked.

“If your team came back with data that she would fare better against former president Donald Trump, would you reconsider your decision to stay in the race?”

“No, unless they came back and said there’s no way you can win,” President Biden said.

“No one is saying that. No pulse says that. Thank you. No poll says that.”

Sleepy Joe

A few weeks ago, reports emerged that the President was demanding more early nights so he could rest.

“The Presidency is the most straining job in the world and it is 24/7. How can you say you will be up for that next year, in two years, four years, given the limits you have acknowledged that you have today?” a journalist asked.

“The limits I have acknowledged?” President Biden questioned.

“There is reporting that you have acknowledged that you need to go to bed earlier and end your evening around 8,” The journalist responded.

“That is not true, “ Biden said.

“What I said was, instead of my every day starting at 7 and going to bed at midnight, it would be smarter for me to pace myself a little more.

“I said - instead of starting a fundraiser at 9.00pm, start it at 8.00pm and people go home by 10.00pm.

“That is what I am talking about.

“If you looked at my schedule since I made that stupid mistake in the debate, my schedule has been full bore.

“Where has Trump been? Riding his golf cart and filling out his scorecard before he hits the ball?

“He has done virtually nothing.

“I have been to roughly 20 major events. Some of them with thousands of people showing up.

“I just think it is better - I always had an inclination, whether I was playing sports or doing politics, just to keep going, not stop.

“I just got to pace myself a little bit more. Pace myself. For the next debate, I won’t travel into 15 time zones a week before.

“Anyway, that is what it was about. By the way, even with that, I love my staff but they add things all the time at the very end. I am catching hell from my wife for that.”

Unable to escape

After one of President Trump’s aids attempted to wrap up the press conference, the media erupted, wanting to ask about his gaffe in this very conference.

“Earlier, you confused Vice President Harris as Vice President Trump and right now Donald Trump is using that to lock your age in their memory. How can you combat that criticism tonight?” a journalist asked.

“Listen to him,” Biden said, walking away.

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