Biden mixes up Harris, Trump names as calls to end his campaign grow

WASHINGTON: U.S. President Joe Biden mixed up the name of his vice president, Kamala Harris, and his Republican rival Donald Trump on Thursday as more of the 81-year-old incumbent’s Democratic colleagues call on him to end his re-election bid.

Biden faces growing doubts from donors, supporters and fellow Democrats, who fear he no longer has the ability to beat former President Trump in the Nov. 5 election, or to lead the country for another four-year term.

“Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if she was not qualified to be president. So start there,” Biden said as he responded to a question from Reuters about his confidence in Harris.

That came a few hours after Biden mistakenly referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as “President Putin.”

Pelosi, Clooney, Democratic senators raise new doubts about Biden

“Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” Biden said at the NATO summit in Washington, drawing gasps from those in the room before correcting himself.

NATO members are wrapping up a summit in Washington where they extended support to Ukraine to combat the invasion that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched in February 2022.

Biden’s campaign has been on the ropes for two weeks, since his poor debate performance against Trump, 78.
So far, 13 of the 213 Democrats in the House and one of the Senate’s 51 Democrats have appealed publicly to the president to withdraw from the race. More could make their concerns public if he fares poorly.

Biden coughed frequently and occasionally garbled his responses at the outset of the news conference, but his responses grew steadier as he fielded questions from reporters. Biden overcame a childhood stutter and has frequently mangled names and misspoke throughout his political career.

‘PACE MYSELF’

He said he needed to “pace myself” a little more and complained that his aides sometimes overscheduled him. “I’m catching hell from my wife,” he said.

The news conference gave Biden an opportunity to tout his successes on the world stage and criticize Trump. Biden argued Trump would weaken NATO and drive up prices for U.S. consumers by imposing steep tariffs on imported goods.