President Joe Biden just stated, publicly, that former President Donald Trump is the "sitting president."
Biden, according to the New York Post, made this mistake during a recent speech that he gave in South Carolina on Saturday.
The president was there to promote his reelection campaign.
The Daily Mail reports that the president "stumbled through" his speech, which was meant to focus on the economy. Biden, however, seemed to spend a large portion of the speech bashing - or, at least, attempting to bash - Trump.
The relevant part of Biden's speech is a bit difficult to understand.
"The American consumers are facing real confidence in the economy we're building. Let me tell you who else is noticing that- Donald Trump," Biden said.
It appears that what Biden was attempting to say was that the economy is improving under his leadership and that Americans - and even Trump - are beginning to recognize this. (The polls would suggest otherwise.)
According to the Daily Mail, however, Biden "fumbled his words" and "he tried to collect his thoughts." It was at this point that Biden made what has to be considered one of his worst gaffes in recent memory - calling Trump the "sitting president" of the United States, when, in actuality, it is Biden himself who is the "sitting president."
"'Did you see what he recently said about - he wants to, he wants to see the economy crash this year? The sitting president," Biden said.
This gaffe probably gives us a pretty good idea of why it is that Biden is trying to avoid a debate with Trump.
Here, Biden struggled to even get through a prepared speech. One could only surmise that he would do worse in a debate, where things are a bit less scripted.
Trump and Biden are the clear favorites to win the party's respective presidential nominations. Trump currently leads the Republican field, on average by 57.7 percentage points, while Biden leads the Democratic field by, on average, 63 percentage points.
Nonetheless, there are still many doubts about whether Biden actually will become his party's presidential nominee, and his struggles in South Carolina on Saturday explain part of the reason why.
As the 2024 general election draws nearer, it appears that there is real concern among Democrats that Biden cannot beat Trump. In head-to-head polls, Trump is currently leading Biden by 4.3 percentage points, on average. Relevant, though, is the fact that Trump's lead only seems to be continuing to grow.
