Biden Misspeaks Again... Confuses German Chancellor After French President

Prime Minister Kol Mentioned in 2021 G7 Meeting Retrospective
Prime Minister Kol Passed Away in 2017, Four Years Before the Meeting

US President Joe Biden (81), who has recently been embroiled in controversies due to frequent verbal slips, made a mistake this time by confusing former German Chancellor Angela Merkel with former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who passed away in 2017.

On the 8th (local time), Bloomberg News and others reported that President Biden made this mistake while attending a fundraising event in New York, USA, and recalling the 2021 G7 summit. President Biden said, "Helmut Kohl asked me, 'Mr. President, what would you say if you learned through the London Times that thousands of people broke into the British Parliament to stop the Prime Minister's inauguration, killing some police officers along the way?'" However, the German Chancellor attending the G7 summit held in Cornwall, UK, at that time was not former Chancellor Kohl but former Chancellor Merkel.

U.S. President Joe Biden is delivering a speech at the 'Black History Month' commemorative event held at the White House on the 6th (local time).
[Photo by Reuters Yonhap News]

Former Chancellor Kohl, who served as Chancellor for a remarkable 16 years from 1982 to 1998, the longest-serving German Chancellor in history, passed away in 2017, four years before the G7 summit. Bloomberg explained that at the summit, former Chancellor Merkel mentioned the 'January 6 Capitol riot' incident in 2021, where supporters of former US President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol and caused chaos, and asked President Biden how he would respond if a similar event occurred during the UK Prime Minister election.

At 81, President Biden is the oldest sitting president in US history and has recently been the subject of much criticism due to frequent verbal slips. On the 4th, during a campaign event held in Las Vegas, Nevada, he confused French President Emmanuel Macron, who attended the 2021 G7 summit, with former President Fran?ois Mitterrand. President Biden recalled that at the G7 summit, when he declared "America is back," "Mitterrand of Germany, no, France, looked at me and said, 'How long will you be back?'" However, the attendee was President Macron. Former President Mitterrand served as French President from 1981 to 1995 while Biden was a senator and passed away 28 years ago in 1996.

Leaders of the G7 (Group of Seven) countries attending the summit held in Cornwall, UK, in June 2021. The second from the left in the front row is U.S. President Biden, and the far right is former German Chancellor Merkel.
[Photo by EPA Yonhap News]

Two days later, on the 6th, after a speech pressuring Congress for the swift passage of an emergency security budget including support for Israel, President Biden was asked about the situation in the Middle East but struggled to immediately recall Hamas, the Palestinian militant group at war with Israel, eventually referring to them as "the other side" before finally remembering.

With his re-election bid coming up this November, President Biden's recent behavior has sparked controversy over his 'cognitive abilities,' causing concern among many Americans. If President Biden wins this year's election, he will be 87 by the end of his second term. Because of this, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley (52), former US Ambassador to the UN, recently targeted both her primary rival former President Donald Trump (77) and President Biden with the slogan "grumpy old men." During her campaign, she asked, "Do you want to run against two people in their 80s for president?" and emphasized, "To bear the weight of the presidency, you cannot choose someone whose 'cognitive abilities' are in doubt."