The European leaders has tendered their support for US President Joe Biden following the gaffes he made at the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) summit held in Washington this week.
The 81-year-old is under scrutiny after mistakenly referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin” at the summit and mixing the names of Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in a press conference.
As a result, fellow Democrats and other supporters urged Biden to drop his re-election bid.
Geert Wilders, a member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, made fun of the president. “President Putin meets Vice President Trump,” he posted on X.
However, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, while speaking to Reuters, supported Biden by saying that he must be tired. However, he was also concerned over the president’s re-election against Trump.
Other leaders also supported him by saying that slip of tongues are very common.
“Slips of tongue happen, and if you always monitor everyone, you will find enough of them,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said when asked by reporters about Biden confusing Zelenskyy with Putin.
Speaking to the BBC, newly-elected British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the US president is helping him solve several global issues.
“He was actually in really good form, and mentally agile — absolutely across all the details,” Starmer said.
Moreover, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni praised the Democratic candidate for his active role in the summit.
'He blew it'
Biden, however, made headlines after he made a blunder in the summit.
“This was Joe Biden’s chance to win over doubters. He blew it,” said a Times of London headline, while Italy’s Il Giornale concluded it was the “end of the road for Biden.”
Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung described Biden’s closing press conference as a “humiliation … To put it harshly: The dignity of the office holder has been irreversibly tarnished.”
Switzerland’s Neue Zuercher Zeitung believes that the Republican candidate can only be defeated if Biden withdraws from the race.
“An old man flexing his political muscles and raising his brittle voice does not come across as powerful…This president is not fit for a second term,” the Zurich newspaper wrote.
