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On February 8, President Joe Biden made headlines after he mistakenly referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi as the President of Mexico. The error happened during a White House press conference when he was asked about the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“I think as you know initially, the President of Mexico, Sisi, did not want to open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in. I talked to him. I convinced him to open the gate,” Joe Biden stated.
The 20-second video of the verbal gaffe, which has now gone viral, is sparking diverse reactions online, from criticisms to mass trolling. In this regard, an X user with the handle @NisaHott commented on @CensoredMen’s post:
“Brutal”: Internet slams Joe Biden for referring to Egyptian President El-Sisi as the President of Mexico
During Thursday’s press conference from the White House, Joe Biden slammed back at Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Hur who recently submitted a public report claiming the President was “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” It was part of the department’s investigation into Biden’s knowledge of certain classified documents. Biden sarcastically commented:
“My memory’s fine. Take a look at what I have done since I became President… How did that happen? I guess I just forgot what was going on… I know what the hell I am doing."
However, moments later, while answering a question about the situation in the Middle East, in the wake of the Israel-Palestine conflict, he referred to the President of Egypt El-Sisi as the Mexican President. Biden took credit for convincing El-Sisi to open up the borders to let humanitarian aid enter the war zone.
As soon as the clip of Joe Biden’s blunder surfaced on the internet, it has been triggering wild reactions. Here are some of them from X.
Notably, this was not the first time Biden confused the names of world leaders during his recent speeches. According to The Hill, during a New York-based fundraising event on Wednesday, the President narrated a story to the donors about his first Group of Seven (G-7) conference and recalled meeting German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
However, it was Angela Markel whom he actually met during his debut G-7 meet. Also, Kohl served in the said role from 1982 to 1988, and later passed away in 2017, long before Joe Biden assumed office.
Likewise, last Sunday, during a campaign in Nevada, the 81-year-old Biden shared the same G-7 meeting anecdote with the audience but took the name of former French President Francois Mitterrand (who served office from 1981 to 1995; and died in 1996) instead of Emmanuel Macron (in office since 2017), whom he actually came across.
Joe Biden’s likely opponent Donald Trump in the upcoming 2024 presidential election has also made similar errors in the past. In October 2023, he confused the leaders of Hungary and Turkey while addressing a rally.
Last month, the 77-year-old former President also confused former Speaker Nancy Pelosi with his Republican primary contender Nikki Haley and falsely accused the latter of a security breach during the January 6 Capitol riot.
Both gaffes earned Trump criticisms and trolling.
