President Biden on Sunday appeared to conflate French President Emmanuel Macron with former European leaders who have been dead for nearly three decades.
During a campaign speech in Las Vegas, the 81-year-old president did not recall speaking to former French president Francois Mitterrand — who died in 1996 — during the 2021 meeting with world leaders.
“It’s in the south of England. And I sat down and I said, ‘America is back,’ and Mitterrand from Germany, I mean from France, looked at me and said – said, ‘you know what – why – how long have you been back?'” Biden said, referring to conversation at the G7 summit where NATO leaders discussed the January 6, 2021 riots at the Capitol.
“And I looked at him, and — and the German chancellor said, ‘What would you say, Mr. President, if you took that paper tomorrow in the London Times and the London Times said, ‘A thousand men break into the House of Commons, break down the door, two Bobbies are killed to stop election of the prime minister. What would you say?’
Portrait of French President Francois Mitterrand during his visit to Saint Benoit in Reunion on February 9, 1988. Sygma via Getty Images
“I never thought about it from that perspective,” Biden continued. “What would we say if that happened in other democracies around the world?”
In the official White House transcript of the speech, it noted that Biden said Mitterrand, but should have said Macron, who has been president of France since 2017.
Biden appears to be confusing the former French leader with current President Emmanuel Macron. AFP via Getty Images
Mitterrand served two terms as president between 1981 and 1995. He died on January 8, 1996 at the age of 79.
Biden’s latest blunder is one of many verbal blunders he’s made since taking office.
Mitterrand died almost three decades ago. Sygma via Getty Images
Biden’s speech mostly took aim at Trump directly, accusing the former president of leaving the country in “disarray” before he left office.
Trump, 77, appears to be on track to secure the GOP nomination to take on Biden in this year’s presidential election — a 2020 rematch.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
