Joe Biden's Gaffe-Filled Interview Raises Eyebrows - Newsweek
By: James Bickerton (Newsweek)
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S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By James Bickerton US News ReporterFOLLOWPresident Joe Biden has raised concerns about his age after appearing to make confused statements during an interview with Time magazine, which one conservative-leaning publication said was "full of slip-ups and gaffes."
During the interview, Biden appeared to confuse Russian President Vladimir Putin with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He said Africa's population would hit 1 billion "in the next several years," though it is already more than 1.4 billion. And in three instances, he made remarks that Time described as "unintelligible" in the interview transcript.
The apparent gaffes come amid evidence of ongoing public concern about the 81-year-old's age and his fitness to serve in the White House for another four years. A recent Siena College poll for The New York Times found that 61 percent of those who voted for Biden in 2020 now believed he was "just too old" to be an effective leader, with 73 percent of voters at large holding this view.
In an article about the Time interview, Reagan Reese, a White House correspondent for the Daily Caller, wrote that it was "full of slip-ups and gaffes, feeding into concerns about the 81-year-old's fitness for office ahead of the 2024 election."
President Joe Biden at Paris Orly Airport on June 5. During a recent interview with Time magazine, Biden appeared to make several gaffes, sparking concerns about his age.President Joe Biden at Paris Orly Airport on June 5. During a recent interview with Time magazine, Biden appeared to make several gaffes, sparking concerns about his age.JULIEN DE ROSA/POOL/AFP/GETTY
Biden was interviewed by Time's editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs and Washington bureau head Massimo Calabresi in a wide-ranging interview that covered the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the electoral threat from presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and his record since assuming office in January 2021.
Newsweek has contacted the White House press office and representatives of President Joe Biden's 2024 campaign for comment outside regular office hours.
In a transcript released by the outlet on June 4, Biden seemed to confuse Putin and Xi when discussing a recently announced wave of tariffs on China, including a 100 percent tax on imported electric vehicles.
Asked whether his tariffs would "raise the prices on American consumers," Biden said: "No, because here's the deal. There's a difference. I made it clear to Putin from the very beginning that—I'm not, we're not engaging in ... For example, Trump wants a 10 percent tariff on everything. That will raise the price of everything in America."
He continued: "What I'm talking about, I said, we're gonna play by the same rules. You tell me if I want to, if an American corporation wants to invest in China, it has to give 50 percent ownership, 51 percent ownership to a Chinese operator. And that goes on from there. And I said, so you're gonna do that to us?"
In an editor's note included in the transcript, Time wrote, "Biden appeared to mean Xi here, not Putin."
When asked about his foreign policy priorities, Biden said he was "desperately focused on making sure that we deal with the ... what they are calling the south now."
He added: "There are going to be a billion people in Africa in the next several years. We have to, we have to be a catalyst for change for the benefit, for the, for the better, we have to help them build back better, we have to help them."
According to a report published by the International Monetary Fund, the population of Africa exceeded 1.4 billion in 2023, and the United Nations estimates that it will approach 2.5 billion by 2050.
When discussing tariffs on Chinese imports, his relationship with Xi, and the potential for a hostage deal involving Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Biden made "unintelligible" comments, according to Time's transcript of the interview.
Biden also said there was "every reason" for people to conclude that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was deliberately prolonging the war in Gaza for his personal political benefit, remarks an Israeli government spokesperson condemned as being "outside the diplomatic norms of every right-thinking country," Reuters reported.
In Biden's most recent annual health summary, which was released in February, the president was described by Kevin O'Connor, his physician, as "a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency."
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His cornbread just isn't done in the middle.
I feel the same way about the other two candidates too, but this is the hand we've been dealt and have to play.
this is the hand we've been dealt and have to play.
One of the saddest things to happen to us.
But, you gotta made sure your "Politics" is right as you futch the people that voted you in.
It's no wonder they want to keep transcripts and audio of Hur's investigation out of the public view.
I heard last night that they make him walk to the end of Air Force 1, so that he can walk up the back set of stairs, so that he can't be filmed on the stairs.
That wouldn't surprise me.
The debates are going to be a hoot, the only thing funnier will be the left defending Joes actions.