Biden’s Misspeaks in Europe

Joe Biden visited Europe from March 24-27, 2022 to talk about the Ukraine situation. During the trip, he made half a dozen important misspeaks that put the USA and the world at risk.

First Misspeak:

The first misspeak was when he contradicted of his own Press Secretary. It was in regard to if the war in Ukraine would cause food shortages. Jen Psaki said they would not, while Biden said they would. This is a major issue that will affect the pocketbooks of Americans and possibly the lives of people in the USA and around the world who suffer from food insecurity.

President Joe Biden warned on Thursday [3/24/22] at the NATO summit in Brussels that a food shortage is imminent following the effect of sanctions levied against Russia coming into effect.

The statement contradicts comments from his press secretary, Jen Psaki, who stated on Monday [3/21/22] that “we’re not expecting a food shortage here at home.”

“With regard to food shortage, yes, we did talk about food shortages, and it’s going to be real,” Biden said while taking questions from the press (Newsmax. Biden Contradicts).

Second Misspeak:

The next misspeak was similar to his previous “minor incursion” gaffe, where Biden seemed to say it would be okay if Putin only invaded Ukraine in a limited way. This time he seemed to say it would be okay if Putin used chemical weapons in a minor way.

Then when asked to clarify, Biden seemed to say if Putin used chemical weapons, the USA and/ or NATO would respond by also using chemical weapons. Either position left the world uneasy that Biden now put chemical weapons use on the table.

Q Hi. Thank you, Mr. President. So you’ve warned about the real threat of chemical weapons being used. Have you gathered specific intelligence that suggests that President Putin is deploying these weapons, moving them to position, or considering their use?

And would the U.S. or NATO respond with military action if he did use chemical weapons?

THE PRESIDENT: You know, on the first question, I can’t answer that. I’m not going to give you intelligence data, number one.

Number two, we would respond. We would respond if he uses it. The nature of the response would depend on the nature of the use….

Q ... And to clarify, on chemical weapons: Could — if chemical weapons were used in Ukraine, would that trigger a military response from NATO?

THE PRESIDENT: It would re- — it would trigger a response in kind, whether or not — you’re asking whether NATO would cross; we’d make that decision at the time (from WSJ. The President).

These exchanges forced national security adviser Jake Sullivan to try to clear up the mess the next day:

Q Jake, President Biden, at the press conference yesterday, said that if Russia uses chemical weapons in Ukraine, the United States and NATO will respond in kind, which would seem to imply using chemical weapons back. Is that what he meant by “in kind”? Or what was he trying to say there?

[MR. SULLIVAN]: No. No. And you heard him in another answer say we’ll respond accordingly — meaning, you know, we will select the form and nature of our response based on the nature of the action Russia takes, and we’ll do so in coordination with our Allies. And we’ve communicated to the Russians, as the President said publicly a couple of weeks ago, that there will be a severe price if Russia uses chemical weapons.

And I won’t go beyond that other than to say the United States has no intention of using chemical weapons, period, under any circumstances (from WSJ. The President)

Third Misspeak:

The next misspeak was actually a flat-out lie. It occurred during a press conference on Friday March 25^th. He was asked about running against Trump again. In response, he retold the same lie he told in his candidacy announcement speech and that Harris told in the VP debate, that being about Trump’s comment about “good people on both sides” after the Charlottesville incident in 2017.

I discuss the distortion of this statement by the media and by Biden and Harris at length in my book Alleged Corruption, Bias, and Fraud: Allegations of the Corruption of Joe Biden, Bias of the Media and Big Tech, and Fraud in the 2020 Election. But here, I will just say, if you listen to the entire comment, Trump did not in any way refer to white supremacists as “good people” as Biden, Harris, and the media allege.

Fourth Misspeak:

The next misspeak was also on Friday when Biden said he never said the sanctions were intended to deter Russia from invading Ukraine. That was a half-lie. It is true he never said that. However, his surrogates did, including Secretary of State Blinken and VP Harris. That latter said, “The purpose of the sanctions has always been and continues to be deterrence.” Either Biden is out of touch with his own administration, or he is purposely lying to cover up their misspeaks.

And during a news conference in Brussels, Biden said the intention of the sanctions on Russia was not to deter Putin, directly contradicting comments his vice president and secretary of state made last month (NBC News. Takeaways).

Fifth Misspeak:

The next Biden misspeak was when he was talking to a group of USA soldiers. He said they would soon see for themselves the bravery of Ukrainians in their fight against Russia. That seemed to be a clear admission the USA would eventually have boots on the ground in Ukraine, despite Biden’s repeated assurances that would not happen. But his administration had to walk back his comment:

The White House on Friday [3/25/22] emphasized that the U.S. would not put any American boots on the ground in Ukraine, an administration spokesperson told Fox News on Friday.

The clarification comes after President Joe Biden’s comments to a crowd of U.S. troops earlier in the day while emphasizing the might of average Ukrainian citizens.

“You’re going to see when you’re there — some of you have been there — you’re going to see women, young people, standing in the middle, in front of a damn tank, saying, ‘I’m not leaving,’“ the president told the 82nd Airborne Division stationed in Jasionka, Poland…

“The president has been clear we are not sending U.S. troops to Ukraine, and there is no change in that position,” the spokesperson said (Newsmax. WH).

Greg Kelly on Newsmax played a full video of this event. Many soldiers were sitting, not standing to show respect to the Commander-in Chief, others were not paying attention to Biden, and no one was cheering. Greg contrasted that scene to when Trump visited the troops, and they were all standing and chanting “USA! USA! USA!”

Biden, [Ric] Grenell, added after watching a clip of the president’s comments, is “unclear. Sometimes he wears a mask. Sometimes he doesn’t. The troops aren’t standing for him when he walks in the room. We see this as incredible weakness” (Newsmax. Ric Grenell).

Sixth Misspeak:

The final ext misspeak was when Biden called Putin a “butcher” and said he “cannot remain in power.” It was a clear call for regime change, for Putin to be taken out of office in some manner. But once again it was “Clean up in aisle 5,” as his administration had to walk back those statements and claim he was saying Putin could not remain in power in Ukraine, that Biden was not referring to Putin not staying in power in Russia.

“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said Saturday [3/26/22] at the end of a speech from Warsaw, Poland’s capital — a line that a source familiar with the situation said hadn’t been included in prepared remarks.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday”: “The president was speaking from his heart, but it is not U.S. policy to see regime change.”

There is “no support in the Democratic Congress for regime change,” he said, suggesting that Biden could have been “frustrated” after having met with Ukrainian refugees in his trip to Europe. “We’ve been the party against regime change in the past 20 years” (NBC News. Democrats clarify).

The United States has no strategy of regime change for Russia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on Sunday after President Joe Biden a day earlier said Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power.”

“I think the President, the White House made the point last night that, quite simply, President Putin cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against Ukraine or anyone else,” Blinken said at a press conference during a visit to Jerusalem (Newsmax. Blinken).

Implications:

These half dozen misspeaks are not the first by Biden; and sadly, they will not be the last. And these are not minor misspeaks, like Trump exaggerating the number of hamburgers he bought for the Clemson Tigers. I report about that exaggeration and the big deal the MSM (mainstream media) made about it in my While I Was Occupied. But here, these Biden misspeaks are serious misstatements that could lead to an escalation in Ukraine and even nuclear war.

President Biden’s remark that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” came under fire for muddying U.S. policy and threatening to undermine diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine (WSJ. Biden’s Remark).

France’s President Emmanuel Macron warned Sunday [3/27/22] against a verbal “escalation” of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, after US President Joe Biden branded Vladimir Putin a “butcher” who “cannot remain in power.” …

Personal attacks, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, were “narrowing down the window of opportunity” for bilateral relations.

“Biden is weak, sick and unhappy,” said Vyacheslav Volodin, president of the lower house of parliament (Newsmax. Macron).

Former President Donald Trump is warning President Joe Biden is risking provoking Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons to defend himself against Biden’s accidental call for a regime change in Russia….

Trump was referring to Biden’s remarks during a speech in Poland, where he said Putin “cannot remain in power.” That is a call for a regime change and Trump noted that tends to make dictators use deadly force, if not nuclear weapons to defend themselves (Newsmax. Trump to).

Biden Doubles Down:

After he got back to the States, Biden doubled down on the last remark. He claimed he was expressing his “personal outrage” at Putin’s actions but was not expressing new USA policy. However, as Dan Bongino said in his radio show on Monday (3/27), if you are the owner of a Mom & Pop shop, you are free to express your personal outrage at Putin. But when you are POTUS, you need to be more restrained, as your words can have dire consequences.

President Joe Biden said Monday [3/28/22] that he would make “no apologies” and wasn’t “walking anything back” after his weekend comment that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power.” The president also insisted he’s not calling for regime change in Moscow.

“I was expressing the moral outrage that I felt toward this man,” Biden said. “I wasn’t articulating a policy change.”…

Biden on Monday rejected the idea that his comment could escalate tensions over the war in Ukraine or that it would feed Russian propaganda about Western aggression.

“Nobody believes … I was talking about taking down Putin,” Biden said, adding that “the last thing I want to do is engage in a land war or a nuclear war with Russia.”

He said he was expressing an “aspiration” rather than a goal of American foreign policy (Trib Live/ AP. Biden)

With these remarks, Biden made his Secretary of State look foolish, as he had given a completely different spin to Biden’s remarks then Biden himself does here.

Biden Denials:

Meanwhile, at that press conference, Biden denied he had made the various misspeaks mentioned in this article. Either his cognitive difficulties are now such that he cannot remember what he has said just days earlier, or he is self-deluded, or he is a liar. There are no other options.

The following exchange occurred between Fox News’ White House correspondent Peter Doocy and Biden:

“Are you worried that other leaders in the world are going to start to doubt that America is back if some of these big things that you say on the world stage keep getting walked back?” Doocy asked.

“Just in the last couple days, it sounded like you told U.S. troops they were going to Ukraine; it sounded like you said it was possible the U.S. would use a chemical weapon; and it sounded like you were calling for regime change in Russia,” Doocy noted.

“None of the three occurred,” Biden responded. “None of the three. You interpret the language that way.”

“We were talking about helping train the Ukrainian troops who were in Poland,” the president said. …

When Doocy pressed him, Biden added, “I was referring to meeting with and talking with the Ukrainian troops who were in Poland.”

“And when you said that chemical weapon use by Russia would trigger a ‘response in kind?’” Doocy pressed.

“It will trigger a significant response,” Biden said.

“What does that mean?” Doocy pressed again.

“I’m not going to tell you,” the president added. “Why would I tell you? You’ve got to be silly.”

Biden insisted that if he told Doocy what the response would be, “then Russia knows the response” (Fox News. Biden caught).

Conclusion:

It is clear that in the Biden administration, the right hand does not know what the left is doing, while Biden cannot even remember what he says himself. And again, these are not trivial issues like counting hamburgers but major ones that could affect every life on earth.

Mr. Biden’s remark, even after its repudiation on Sunday by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, may well make it harder to negotiate with Mr. Putin over Ukraine or anything else. And Mr. Biden’s habit of misstating his own policies—no fewer than three times during his European trip—is especially dangerous amid an international crisis (WSJ. The President).

President Joe Biden’s comments while speaking to U.S. troops in Poland Friday, in which he told them that they would “see” the bravery of Ukrainians fighting off Russia “when you’re there,” might have been construed as a gaffe if he were a “normal president,” former acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell said on Newsmax Friday.

“I think that if we were talking about a normal president, most people would immediately see that as an early flag and a slip-up, but with Joe Biden, he’s so weak and fumbling and mumbling that he makes these gaffes all the time,” Grenell told Newsmax’s “John Bachman Now.” “The media is kind of used to it. They shrug their shoulders, like Oh, that’s old Uncle Joe.”

But by the media dismissing such gaffes, they just allow them to continue, said Grenell, and “that’s the heart and soul of the problem.” …

“We could list all of the different countries and their leaders that are looking at the United States right now and beginning to make moves and go on offense,” he added. “We have a crisis right now in the United States because our leadership looks incredibly weak, and he is acting incredibly weak” (Newsmax. Ric Grenell).

With just nine words, Biden undermined the United States’s own policy of nonintervention in regard to the Russia-Ukraine crisis and suggested that we might actually be willing to get involved in a direct way. The Kremlin, which has long argued that the U.S. and its allies in NATO are plotting a revolution in Russia, vowed to monitor Biden’s actions carefully and called his comments “alarming.” And ultimately, the entire point of Biden’s speech, that the West should remain unified in economic and diplomatic opposition to Russian aggression, was lost due to concerns that Biden had just endorsed offing Putin.

There is no question that the world would be better off if Putin really were removed from office. But for the president of the U.S. to suggest openly that the U.S. would support such a thing is irresponsible, and everyone, including Biden, knows it: “The words of a president matter,” he said during the 2020 campaign. “They can move markets. They can send our brave men and women to war. They can bring peace.”

They can also escalate a high-risk crisis with a nuclear power. And yet, here we are (Washington Examiner. Joe Biden's gaffes).

None of this bodes well for the USA or the world.

References:

Fox News. Biden caught using cue cards in trying to paper over Ukraine gaffe about ousting Putin.

NBC News. Democrats clarify Biden’s Putin remark as Republicans knock his ‘mistake’.

NBC News. Takeaways from Biden’s trip to Europe: Unity, reassurance and a memorable gaffe.

Newsmax. Biden Contradicts Psaki: Food Shortage Could Occur Due to Russia Sanctions.

Newsmax. Blinken: US Has No Strategy of Regime Change in Russia.

Newsmax. Macron Warns Against ‘Escalation’ After Biden Brands Putin ‘Butcher’.

Newsmax. Ric Grenell to Newsmax: Biden Troop Gaffe Shows His Weakness.

Newsmax. Trump to Newsmax: Biden Provoking Putin on Nukes Talking Regime Change.

Newsmax. WH Clarifies: No US Troops in Ukraine After Biden’s Comments.

Trib Live/ AP. Biden says remark on Putin's power was about 'moral outrage'.

Washington Examiner. Joe Biden's gaffes are a liability.

WSJ. Biden’s Remark on Putin Stirs Anxiety Among Western Allies.

WSJ. The President Should Avoid Public Speaking.

WSJ. The President We Have.

Joe Biden Tweets During the First Year of His Failing Presidency,
Reversing Trump, while Dividing and Destroying America

Biden can be very disingenuous in his tweets and his claims about his various plans and polices. He thinks they are all grand and good for the country. But in fact, it is those very plans and policies that is causing his presidency to be failing. Those plans and polices are also dividing and destroying American. Biden’s early actions also set the stage for more failures later in his presidency, so it is important to remember them.

The above article was posted on this website on March 28, 2022.
It was last updated March 29, 2022.

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