A huge mistake by Biden, who declared “President Putin” when welcoming Zelensky

Joe Biden, who now stakes his political survival on every public appearance, made a huge mistake on Thursday, even before the start of a press conference that is considered crucial to his presidential candidacy. The 81-year-old Democrat announced, in his speech at the NATO summit in Washington “President Putin” Where he received Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on stage.

“And now I want to give the floor to the President of Ukraine, who has great courage and determination. Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin.”The US president announced, and this is not his first failure of its kind. Joe Biden, who led the Western response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, walked away from the microphone before realizing his mistake and returning to say: “He will defeat President Putin. President Zelensky. I am very focused on defeating Putin.”His Republican opponents immediately began circulating the video on social media.

The mistake bodes ill for a press conference he is due to hold at 6:30 p.m. local time (10:30 p.m. GMT). The challenge for the US president is to have presence, to express himself clearly, in a confident voice, without notes and without a teleprompter. He failed to do that on June 27 during a debate against his Republican predecessor Donald Trump, whom he remains determined to face in the November election. His opponent’s campaign team expects failure.