President Joe Biden appeared confused as he stood with world leaders on Thursday and performed his trademark awkward handshake as he left the stage.
RNC Research highlighted the moments on
One man appears to switch places with another as he poses for a photo, while Biden appears to look bemused by the incident.
“Such power, such power,” the report wrote sarcastically, referring to Biden’s apparently weak handshake.
The images of the president’s latest blunder sparked mixed reactions.
President Joe Biden appeared confused as he stood with world leaders at the APEC summit and performed his trademark awkward handshake as he left the stage
One man appears to switch places with another as he poses for a photo – while Biden appears to look bemused by the incident.
‘How long will they continue to pretend? This is getting serious with all the things happening in the world,” one user commented.
“This is how my MIL acts every time we try to take a family photo…” another joked.
Others defended the president: “Actually, it seems the other leaders were confused as they were the ones in the wrong place.”
This comes after Biden waved the white flag rather than contend with saying the provocative name of a corporate entity during remarks at the APEC summit on Thursday.
While praising American business innovation, Biden decided to skip naming a business entity rather than trashing its name in comments about innovation and performance.
‘IBM, Organon, Visa. Look, they’re doing well, they’re making our region more resilient and more secure,” Biden said, renaming the companies.
“Here in this world-renowned center of innovation, leading tech companies like Anthropic and – I’m going to mispronounce it. I’m not even going to try,” Biden said, stopping himself.
The images of the president’s latest blunder sparked mixed reactions
“I’m going to mispronounce it,” Biden told the crowd during a speech at APEC. He said it is better to skip a company’s name in his speech than to mispronounce it
“It’s better not to try and not pronounce it wrong than to try and mispronounce it,” he noted before continuing with his remarks. “The point is that start-up small and medium-sized businesses are also getting an emphasis,” Biden said.
His comment received a warm laugh from the crowd of dignitaries and officials from the Asia-Pacific region.
Biden, who overcame a speech impediment as a child, had moments earlier botched the name of the cavernous event space where he spoke in downtown San Francisco.
“The Marcone Center is about the size of my state,” confusing the name of the Moscone Center. It is named after former San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, who was murdered along with San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978.
On Wednesday, Biden avoided another potentially challenging name when he tried not to mention CBS White House correspondent Weijia Jiang.
Biden, who overcame a speech impediment as a child, even botched the name of the cavernous event space where he spoke in downtown San Francisco.
“The Marcone Center is about the size of my state,” confusing the name of the Moscone Center. It is named after former San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, who was murdered along with San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978.
This isn’t Biden’s first blunder of the month.
Just last week, Biden again called his Vice President Kamala Harris “president” and later messed up the pronunciation of her name.
The presidential flubs came as he welcomed the Las Vegas Gold Knights Stanley Cup champions to the White House on Monday and are part of a series of mistakes on his part when it comes to his running mate.
“President Harris is here to make sure we do it right,” Biden said as he kicked off the celebratory event.
Biden also shuffled into a six-foot Brazilian flag in September, causing it to wobble as he approached the stage.
The president gave a lengthy speech about his “economic vision to rebuild our economy from the center and bottom up, not top down,” as Lula watched from his right flank.
Meanwhile, during Lula’s speech, Biden fumbled with his headphones, which he used to hear a translated version.
“Can you hear me, President Biden? This is a historic moment for Brazil and for the US,” Lula said at the start of his speech.
“President Biden, can you hear me?” Lula asked again and seemed to lose his patience when Biden growled in response. ‘You can?’ he asked, turning to Biden. ‘Yeah, fine.’
Biden continued to look confused as he struggled with the headset as Lula continued his speech. At one point, Biden dropped his earpiece and raised his eyebrows in frustration.
International Labor Organization Director General Gilbert Houngbo took the stage after the two world leaders, and Biden bent down to slowly pick up a folder from the ground.
Houngbo in turn shook hands with Biden and Lula at the end of his speech, but Biden appeared to leave Lula hanging as he awkwardly greeted the audience before shuffling off stage.
He seemed torn between giving a thumbs up or a greeting, and he made a sloppy gesture combining the two.
As Biden turned his back on the Brazilian president, Lula looked irritated and made a sweeping gesture with his arm. They left awkwardly on opposite sides.