Biden says Trump has ‘no basis of understanding’ of foreign policy, then mixes up Norway and Finland: President attacks the press for focusing on polls and his predecessor for treating Putin ‘like a buddy’ at campaign stop in Nevada

President Joe Biden on Tuesday attacked Donald Trump for having “no basis for understanding” foreign policy, but also confused Norway and Finland when talking about the NATO alliance.

“This guy — he has no basis for understanding what American foreign policy is about,” Biden told a group of about 50 supporters during a campaign stop in Reno, Nevada.

He also accused Trump of speaking as if he had “lost a buddy” when talking about Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“This man talks like he almost lost a friend,” Biden said.

But the president also made his own foreign policy blunder, part of a series of mistakes in which he confused world leaders and countries.

Speaking about a conversation he had with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger shortly before the diplomat died, Biden said Kissinger spoke to him about Sweden and Norway joining NATO.

The sitting president said Kissinger’s advice to strengthen the alliance was “to expand NATO’s border through Sweden and Norway.”

Norway was a founding member of the alliance. Sweden and Finland joined NATO this past year during Biden’s tenure in the White House.

Biden was in Reno to open a new campaign office that will work with the local Democratic Party to sway Latino and union voters. The president needs both groups if he wants to win Nevada in November.

He spent much of his remarks attacking Trump. Although he didn’t directly mention his Republican rival by name, it was clear who he was talking about.

Biden relayed a quote that Trump told supporters at Mar-a-Lago, even checking his ever-present notecard to make sure he got the quote right: “He was at Mar Lago and he told a crowd of people : I want to look down so I get it just right – he said he described the crowd as if I know you are extremely rich. But I’m going to give you those big tax cuts.”

He also complained that the press “reports a lot of opinion polls.”

He went on to say, “The last four polls had me confused,” but did not say which polls.

But he then added: “No poll means anything this early.”

Biden expressed confidence that he could win a second term.

He told the cheering crowd of supporters, “I am confident that if we get our message to the American people, we will win again.”

He compared his campaign strategy to a football game, saying it was all about blocking and defending as he urged supporters to “knock on doors” to plead the case to the American people.

‘I feel very good when I travel around the country. No joke.’

Biden won Nevada in 2020 by 2 percent over Trump.

It is one of two states he will travel to on Tuesday as he looks to strengthen the Southwest against his Republican rival.

His second stop of the day is in Las Vegas before heading to Phoenix, Arizona.

Biden left the White House on Tuesday morning wearing a pair of dress shoes with an oversized grippy sole, appearing to have at least temporarily left behind the “lifestyle sneakers” he recently wore.

The president’s footwear has become a point of interest amid reports that aides are trying to give him more stability ahead of the election campaign after a series of trips and stumbles.

Nevada and Arizona are two of the seven battleground states that the Biden campaign says are necessary for a victory in November. The other five are Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina.

During his journey, he tries to woo union voters and voters of color.

“As we enter the general election, we have several clear paths to victory through a number of critical swing states,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a memo released Monday.

His three-day trip will be a combination of campaign and official events, topped off by a fundraising round.

During his trip, he will launch Latinos con Biden-Harris (Spanish for Latinos with Biden-Harris), part of the campaign’s efforts to win over the voting blocs crucial to giving Biden a second term.

The incumbent president will specifically target black and Latino voters. Polls show these groups — along with younger voters — are slowly pulling away from Biden due to their frustration with the economy and the higher cost of living.

On Tuesday in Phoenix, the president will deliver speeches at a local Mexican restaurant in the south part of the city, a predominantly Latino area.

On Wednesday, he will talk in Phoenix about his Investing in America agenda before hosting two fundraising events in Dallas. And he will hold another fundraiser in Houston on Thursday before returning to the White House.

The trip is part of his post-State of the Union blitz, where he will argue that his agenda has helped stimulate the economy as he tries to boost his poll numbers against Trump.

In Arizona, Trump leads Biden by five points Polling average from RealClearPolitics. In Nevada, Trump is six points higher poll average.

In their 2020 contest, Biden won both states by narrow margins. He won Nevada by 2 percent and won Arizona by just 10,000 votes out of more than 3 million cast. It was the first time since 1996 that Arizona voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.

Latino voters are particularly attracted to Trump. The campaign opens bilingual offices in every state.

Latinos make up about one in four eligible voters in Arizona and Nevada.

Arizona, and especially Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, was the epicenter of the post-2020 election battle after Trump falsely claimed he won the state and his supporters conducted recounts to try to find evidence of fraud (they did they don’t).

In Phoenix, Biden will discuss his CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which helped boost employment at semiconductor factories in the area.

Arizona will hold its primaries on Tuesday, the day Biden is in the state. Progressives in the state are encouraging a protest vote against Biden over his handling of Israel’s war in Gaza. Organizers are urging Democrats to vote for Marianne Williamson.

Democrats are also hopeful about efforts in each of those states to put initiatives on the 2024 ballot that would establish a constitutional right to abortion. The party has successfully used the issue to get its voters – especially women – to the polls for the 2022 midterm elections.

“With abortion on the ballot in both Nevada and Arizona, new, high-paying jobs in clean energy and chip manufacturing, and organized labor behind us, the Biden-Harris campaign is in a strong position to continue winning these voters. the Southwest,” Chavez Rodriguez said in her memo.