Buckle up for a wild ride through Joe Biden's most memorable verbal slip-ups! We're diving into the most cringe-worthy, jaw-dropping moments that have left people scratching their heads and wondering what he was thinking.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the weirdest, most cringeworthy
00:13times that former U.S. President Joe Biden said something he probably wishes he hadn't.
00:30Forgetting Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's name.
00:48Look, we get it. Biden is known to stutter, and we're not making fun of that.
00:52What we're in awe of here is the ex-president's almost impressive gift for butchering people's
00:57names and, in his case, forgetting them entirely. Highly decorated four-star General Lloyd Austin,
01:05Biden's pick for Secretary of Defense, bears an impressive resume. And that's before you
01:10add in the fact that he was the first black person to fill the role.
01:27Unfortunately, according to Biden, that seems to be the most memorable thing about him.
01:37In a July 2024 interview with Black Entertainment Television, or BET, Biden struggled to remember
01:44Austin's name when discussing his record of black appointees, giving him a, well,
01:50let's say a bare-bones description.
01:57Number 9. His victory over Medicare.
02:28Yes, you read that right. Remember President Biden's disastrous performance in the first
02:35presidential debate of 2024? The one that led to literally dozens of calls for him to step down
02:42and resign? Yeah, you remember. While there were several moments that had Biden supporters watching
02:47through their fingers, we had to go with the one that found the then-president victoriously
02:52claiming that he had beaten Medicare?
03:16White House Press Secretary Kareem Jean-Pierre later clarified that Biden had intended to say
03:21that he had beaten Big Pharma, but the damage had been done. Just weeks later, on July 21st,
03:28Biden announced that he was withdrawing from the presidential race and endorsed
03:32Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor.
03:51Number 8. Insulting his future running mate.
04:00Mr. President, you have creeped into our heart, you and your whole family, including mom,
04:08and you occupy it. It's an amazing thing that happened. I knew how smart you were.
04:18I knew how honorable you were. Before their friendship had time to blossom,
04:22Biden and Barack Obama were rivals, both seeking the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
04:28The two couldn't have been more different. Obama, then the face of a new generation of leadership,
04:34and Biden, the passionate elder statesman. While, of course, Obama was eventually elected
04:39and selected Biden as his VP, a 2007 gaffe appeared to reveal Biden's true thoughts.
04:47Interviewed by reporters the same day he filed paperwork to run, Biden shared the following,
04:53I mean, you got the first sort of mainstream African American who is articulate and bright
04:59and clean and a nice looking guy. Biden was on the receiving end of well-deserved
05:04criticism for his awkward, inappropriate remarks. Hours after he made these comments to CNN,
05:10Senator Obama released a statement saying, quote, I didn't take Senator Biden's comments
05:15personally, but obviously they were historically inaccurate. Number 7. Vice President Trump.
05:22Mr. President, your political future has hung over the NATO summit a little bit this week.
05:28Speaker Pelosi made a point of suggesting that your decision on whether to stay in the race was
05:32still open. George Clooney and a handful of lawmakers have called on you to step aside.
05:38No, sorry, this was never a possibility that Biden actually floated. But can you imagine
05:44the comedic possibilities that a Biden-Trump presidential ticket would offer? This
05:49characteristically baffling Biden blunder happened at the 2024 NATO summit in Washington.
05:55What was intended as a statement of support for Kamala Harris,
05:58ultimately served as yet another embarrassing gaffe on Biden's part.
06:02Look, I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president
06:07until I think she was not qualified to be president. So let's start there.
06:10Responding to Reuters reporter Jeff Mason's questions as to whether or not he had any
06:16concerns about Harris' ability to face Trump, Biden spoke before thinking and referred to his
06:22VP as Vice President Trump. Yeah, maybe this was a sign that he should have harbored some concerns.
06:29The fact is that the consideration is that I think I'm the most qualified person
06:36to run for president. I beat him once and I will beat him again.
06:41Number 6. President Putin.
06:44I've said before, Russia will not prevail in this war. Ukraine will prevail in this war,
06:50and we'll stay with them every single step of the way. That's what the compact says,
06:56loudly and clearly.
06:58Want to know what might be the worst part of this particular gaffe? It happened mere hours after our
07:04last entry, the Vice President Trump slip up. Yes, that same day. Whatever you think of the
07:10former president, at least he doesn't waste time. Just ahead of a news conference at the
07:16aforementioned NATO summit, Biden introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as
07:22President Putin.
07:23And now I want to hand it over to the President of Ukraine,
07:27who has as much courage as he has determination. Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin.
07:34You know, the leader of the country literally invading Zelensky's Ukraine.
07:38To his credit, Zelensky played it cool when prompted by Irish reporters the following
07:43Saturday. The leader from Ukraine graciously shrugged Biden's goof off, saying the United
07:48States gave a lot of support for Ukrainians. We can forget some mistakes, I think so.
07:54What can I say? I really appreciate that President Biden, American society,
08:00being from the very beginning of this tragedy, from the very beginning of
08:07this full scale war, from the first days being together with us.
08:12Number five, harsh words for Trump supporters. It's probably worth noting that by the time Biden
08:19uttered this no holds barred take, he wasn't even the Democratic presidential nominee anymore.
08:25Believe it or not, people, I welcome migrants to the United States of America.
08:29With open arms. And by open arms, I mean like this.
08:35A late October Trump rally held at Madison Square Garden yielded a number of controversial moments.
08:40Chiefly among them, though, was comedian and Kill Tony podcast host
08:44Tony Hinchcliffe's remarks about Puerto Rico.
08:47There's a lot going on. Like, I don't know if you guys know this, but there's literally a
08:50floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. Yeah, I think it's called Puerto
08:56Rico. OK, all right. OK, we're getting there. Again, normally I don't follow the national
09:04anthem, everybody. In a poorly received joke that was speculated to have nearly cost Trump
09:10the election, Hinchcliffe referred to the U.S. territory as a floating island of garbage.
09:16A Biden attempt to rebuke Hinchcliffe's racist remarks only ignited further controversy,
09:21with the then president declaring that the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.
09:27Well, let me tell you something. I don't I don't know the Puerto Rican that I know
09:33or Puerto Rico where I'm in my home state of Delaware.
09:36They're good, decent, honorable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.
09:42His his his demonization is seen as unconscionable and it's un-American.
09:46It's totally contrary to everything we've done, everything we've been.
09:50Number four, his history with Nelson Mandela.
09:54Spending some time with over the years who changed the world and the way we see it.
10:01Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela said a good head and a good heart
10:10are always a formidable combination. Once again, it feels important to remember
10:17that Biden's penchant for gaffes and misstatements long predates his presidency.
10:22The former president, vice president and Delaware senator has routinely been
10:26taken to task for exaggeration, embellishment and even outright lying.
10:32In fact, before his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden even referred to himself as a gaffe machine.
10:38After he got elected president, he came by to see me because I was on the phone.
10:42He thanked me, along with I assume everyone else that had gone on that trip,
10:47for supporting sanctions against apartheid.
10:51Case in point, an embarrassing February 2020 incident in which Biden repeatedly claimed
10:57that he'd been arrested in South Africa while trying to see future president Nelson Mandela
11:02in the 1970s. Biden even asserted that Mandela had personally thanked him for his efforts.
11:08Eventually, the Biden campaign was forced to concede that the incident
11:11hadn't occurred as the former vice president had described it.
11:15I forget I asked him, I said, uh, you must be angry. He said, no. So I learned,
11:21I learned to like my jailers. He said they were just doing a job.
11:26And he said, when they all left, they all embraced me. I thought to myself,
11:31what an incredibly remarkable man.
11:38The other thing we should do is we should challenge these students.
11:41We should challenge students in these schools to have advanced placement programs in these schools.
11:45We have this notion that somehow if you're poor, you cannot do it.
11:50This is one slip up that's really, really hard to make sense of.
11:55Speaking at a 2019 town hall in Des Moines, Iowa, Biden regrettably asserted that
12:00we have this notion that somehow if you're poor, you cannot do it.
12:04Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.
12:08While the then-presidential candidate immediately tried to correct himself,
12:12it didn't take long for President Trump's re-election
12:15campaign to cease on Biden's painful choice of words.
12:19It's definitely a gaffe and Joe Biden has a long record of making gaffes. So
12:23I don't think this one will stand out on that long record, but it does
12:27add to the question of whether or not Joe Biden is attuned to the moment,
12:31whether or not his moment has passed and whether or not he knows how to speak
12:34to the Democratic base in 2019 and 2020.
12:38According to Kate Bedingfield, Biden's deputy campaign manager,
12:42the future president was attempting to make the point that all children deserve a fair shot
12:46and children born into lower income circumstances are just as smart as those born to wealthy parents.
12:53Wealthy kids, black kids, Asian kids. No, I really mean it, but think how we think about it.
12:58We think now we're going to dumb it down.
13:01Number two, black voters' choice.
13:04Listen, you got to come see us when you come to New York, VP Biden.
13:08It's a long way until November. We got more questions.
13:11You got more questions. I tell you, if you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or
13:15Trump and you ain't black, it don't have nothing to do with Trump.
13:19It has to do with the fact I want something for my community.
13:22During an interview on the Breakfast Club morning show with Charlemagne the God,
13:27Biden uttered a now infamous statement.
13:30If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black.
13:35Almost immediately, people from all sides of the political aisle strongly condemned Biden's
13:40comment. Yet another awkward, racially charged remark in a series of them.
13:44Joe Biden is using divisive political insinuations suggesting that Democrats
13:49are the good white people and Republicans are the bad white people, which is really amazing
13:54based on actual events in our history that truly propelled black people into freedom
13:59and a more just society.
14:01While Biden made a swift apology admitting that he shouldn't have been so cavalier,
14:06Republican Senator Tim Scott remarked that,
14:09I'd say I'm surprised, but it's sadly par for the course for Democrats to take the
14:14black community for granted and browbeat those that don't agree.
14:18Take a look at my record, man. I extended the voting rights 25 years.
14:22I have a record that is second to none. The NAACP has endorsed me every time I've run.
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14:44Number 1. The Corn Pops Saga.
14:47I was one of the guards and there was a three meter board and you fell off sideways,
14:53you landed on the damn, the darn cement over there. And Corn Pop was a bad dude.
15:01And he ran a bunch of bad boys.
15:03When Biden was running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee,
15:08a 2017 video surfaced that featured him spinning a long confusing yarn about working as a lifeguard
15:14in 1962 Delaware. In the story, Biden claims that he was involved in a dispute with local
15:20bad boy, Corn Pop, who led a local Delawarean gang called the Romans,
15:26who threatened the future president with physical violence.
15:29There's a guy named Bill Wright Mouse, the only white guy, and he did all the pools.
15:34He was the mechanic. And I said, what am I going to do? He said, come down here in the basement
15:39where mechanics were, where all the pool filter is. You know, the chain,
15:44there used to be a chain that went across the deep end.
15:47While the internet reacted with incredulous disbelief at what sounded like an implausible
15:52story, evidence emerged supporting Biden's accounts, including Corn Pop's 2016 obituary.
15:59So with that settled, we have one more question. There are gangs in Delaware.
16:04But I was smart then. I said, first of all, I said, when I tell you, get off the board,
16:09you get off the board. I'll kick you out again. But I shouldn't have called you.
16:12Esther Williams, I apologize for that. I apologize. But I didn't know that apology
16:17was going to work. He said, you apologize to me. I said, I apologize. But I'm not for throwing you
16:22out. But I apologize for what I said. Which Joe Biden gaffe had your jaw on the floor?
16:28Are there any you feel we missed? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
16:33He said, OK, close your straight razor. My heart began to beat again.
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