Biden needed to reassure America after disastrous debate. But a string of gaffes have marred his fightback

Joe Biden delivered his much anticipated “big boy press conference” on the sidelines of the Nato summit on Thursday night, marking his latest attempt to put mounting fears about his fitness to serve another term to rest.

In Thursday night’s high-stakes briefing, the president spoke to reporters for just under an hour, answering 19 questions from 10 journalists, and once again insisting that he is the best person to take on Donald Trump in November.

“I think I’m the most qualified person to run for president. I beat him once and I will beat him again,” he said.

“There’s a long way to go this campaign and so I – I’m just gonna keep moving.”

The press conference comes at the end of a crucial two weeks for the 81-year-old president to reassure American voters, donors and House and Senate Democrats that he should remain in the 2024 presidential race, following his abysmal performance in the first presidential debate last month.

Biden has sought to counter that night’s performance – where he stumbled over his words, appeared frail and lost his train of thought – with a string of public appearances and high-stakes interviews.

But, rather than prove the debate was a one-off, the president has simply added to his list of gaffes.

Here’s a look at Biden’s latest gaffes since the disastrous debate:

Biden confuses Kamala Harris with Trump

The president has a long and occasionally glorious history of blunders in his public statements, cheerily describing himself as a “gaffe machine” in the past.

During Thursday’s press conference at the Nato conference, he managed to confuse his own deputy, Vice President Kamala Harris, with Trump.

“I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if I think she’s not qualified to be president” he said.

It was quickly seized on by Trump, who took to Truth Social to say: “Crooked Joe begins his “Big Boy” Press Conference with, “I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president, though I think she was not qualified to be president.” Great job, Joe!” Trump wrote.

Introduces Volodymyr Zelensky as ‘President Putin’

And that wasn’t his only stunning mix-up on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Biden introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as his nemesis Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine who has as much courage as he does determination. Ladies and gentlemen, president Putin,” Biden said.

The president caught his mistake quickly and corrected himself: “President Putin? He’s going to beat President Putin. President Zelensky. I’m so focused on beating Putin.”

Zelensky generously brushed the matter aside with a quip, saying simpy: “I’m better.”

“You’re a hell of a lot better,” Biden added.

‘I’ll beat him again in 2020!’

At a rally in Madison, Wisconsin on July 5, the president told a raucous crowd: “Let me say this as clearly as I can, I am staying in the race. I’ll beat Donald Trump. I’ll beat him again in 2020!”

Again realising his blunder with the years, he backpedalled swiftly, adding: “…Oh, and by the way, I’ll do it again in 2024!”

‘First Black woman to serve with a Black president’

On Independence Day, the president gave an interview to Philadelphia’s WURD radio station where he claimed he was the “first Black woman to serve with a Black president”.

“By the way, I’m proud to be, as I said, the first vice president, first Black woman… to serve with a Black president,” he said.

Biden appeared to be highlighting his appointment of Harris, 59, as the first Black vice president as well as first woman to hold the job.

To add to the confusion, Biden was himself vice president to the first Black president, Barack Obama, serving from 2009.

‘We finally beat Medicare’

During the debate itself in Georgia, which sparked the current state of crisis within th Democratic party, Biden appeared frail and spoke in a hoarse and rasping voice.

But the exchange that caused most concern was when Biden lost his train of thought and trailed off into incoherence during a rambling answer about healthcare provision.

“We’d be able to help make sure that – all those things we need to do, childcare, elder care, making sure that we continue to strengthen our healthcare system, making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with the Covid – excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with… Look, if – we finally beat Medicare,” he said.

The White House later explained he had meant to say “Big Pharma” but the mistake opened the door to Trump, who pounced with the improvisation: “He’s right: He did beat Medicare. He beat it to death.”