Donald Trump has confused Joe Biden for Barack Obama yet again, triggering questions about his mental state. Source: Shealah Craighead, Flickr.
Donald Trump has confused Joe Biden for Barack Obama for a third time at a rally speech in Virginia on Saturday, triggering questions about his age and mental competence to run office.
Trump’s mistake came as he was addressing a crowd of thousands of supporters at the Greater Richmond Convention Centre.
“Putin has so little respect for Obama that he’s starting to throw around the nuclear word. You heard that. Nuclear. He’s starting to talk nuclear weapons today,” said Trump, on Saturday night in Richmond.
The crowd reportedly went absolutely silent, as Trump referenced Obama — who left office more than seven years ago — when he clearly meant Biden.
This is not the first time Trump has made such a blunder in the last six months.
The other gaffes he has committed include mixing up his Republican rival Nikki Haley with former House speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Haley responded by questioning whether Trump was “mentally fit” to be president. Her campaign for the Republican nomination has centred itself around her being a healthy, younger nominee compared to the other “Grumpy old Men” – referring to Trump and Biden.
Similar concerns have been raised about President Biden, age 81, as he has also made several gaffes this week, questioning his capacity to continue running for office.
Twice, he has appeared to mix up Gaza with Ukraine in an announcement to send humanitarian aid to Palestinian in Gaza dying of starvation.
“In the coming days, we’re going to join with our friends in Jordan and others who are providing airdrops of additional food and supplies into Ukraine,” Biden said on Friday. “[The US will] seek to open up other avenues into Ukraine, including possibly a marine corridor.”
Later, a White House Official confirmed that Biden meant Gaza, not Ukraine.
Last month, in an investigation over the removal of classified papers, a US prosecutor described Biden’s mental state and memory to be “poor”, and “severely limited”.
This latest blunder has only served to further solidify this perception of Biden into the minds of some US voters.
Trump and Biden are known to be the oldest pair to run for presidency in US history.
