President Biden’s long political career has been plagued with gaffes, but his recent remark that President Putin “cannot remain in power” may be the most severe. Biden’s comment is expected to reignite detractors’ assertions that the president of the United States, a self-described “gaffe machine,” is suffering from substantial cognitive impairment.

The US president’s remark in Warsaw, which provoked a blistering retaliation from Moscow over the weekend and overshadowed days of arduous work to mobilize European allies against Russia, is not his first error during the Ukraine conflict.

Biden, 79, looked like he threw Ukraine under the bus before the Russia invasion even started. In January, he said that a “minor incursion” by Moscow might not warrant a strong response from the world. With Russian forces massed on the Ukrainian border, Biden told a press conference that if Putin invaded, the US would hold him accountable, but that the severity of the consequences would be determined by the scale of Russia’s aggressiveness.

President Zelensky slammed the remark. “We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations,” tweeted the Ukrainian president.

“Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones. I say this as the president of a great power.”

People worry that, despite his long career in public service, US President Biden lacks the subtlety and attention to detail necessary for diplomacy.

In October, the White House had to smooth up another Biden blunder, when the president stated that the US would defend Taiwan if China invaded the island.

Biden was questioned on his willingness to “vow to protect Taiwan” if China attacked the self-governing republic, which Beijing claims as its own. “Yes, we have a commitment to do that,” the president said, seemingly departing from Washington’s long-stated position of “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan.

Beijing slammed Biden’s remark, saying he “should act and speak cautiously on the Taiwan issue… so as not to seriously damage China-US relations.” The White House attempted to “walk back” the remarks, claiming that “no change in our policy” on Taiwan.

Biden has refused to take a cognitive test since taking office, or to share the results if he has, despite ridiculing President Trump on the 2020 campaign trail when he boasted about having passed a mental exam and “aced it.”

Trump said: “I have, like, a good memory. Because I’m cognitively there.”

Biden’s medical staff indicated in November that the president was healthy but that his advancing years had caused him to develop a “stiffer and less fluid” walk. However, a poll taken just before Biden’s first State of the Union speech indicated that 54 percent of Americans no longer feel he has the “mental sharpness” required to serve as president.

In a letter to the president, roughly 40 Republicans urged that Biden undergo a cognitive test and release the results to the public, alleging that they were “worried about your cognitive and mental abilities.”

In 2020, Biden reacted furiously to a reporter who asked if he would take the same exam as Trump, implying that the reporter was “a junkie” for asking the question. Biden’s aggressive answer to Errol Barnett, a black CBS correspondent, brought to mind his lengthy history of inappropriate racist statements, which have haunted his career and even derailed his previous presidential campaigns.

In 2007, Biden referred to Barack Obama, a fellow Democratic presidential candidate, as “the first sort mainstream African-American who is articulate, bright, and clean.”

Even his successful 2020 campaign was tainted by racial gaffes, such as telling a group of minority organizers that: “Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.”

As the two prepare for a rematch for the White House in 2024, Trump has continued to imply that Biden is suffering from a mental breakdown, referring to him as “Sleepy Joe.”

In 2020, Trump remarked, “Joe should take that test because something is going on, and I say this with respect.”

He added it’s “going to probably happen to all of us, right? You know, it’s going to happen. But we can’t take a chance of it happening.”

Image Credit: Getty

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