Concerns Mount as Biden Forgets Country's Name: 'This Man Has the Nuclear Football'
Embarrassing gaffe during interview raises more questions about ability to lead
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Democrat Joe Biden repeatedly forgot the name of the country he was talking about while discussing the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, sparking fresh concerns about his mental fitness.
During a new interview with NBC News host Lester Holt on Thursday, Biden confused Aghanistan with different country names more than once.
Biden was asked by Holt if he was told that his administration was “prepared” to pull out of Afghanistan at the right time.
Biden responded:
"No. What I was told, no one told me that, look, there was no good time to get out.
"But if we had not gotten out, they acknowledged that we would have had to put a hell of a lot more troops back in.
"It wasn’t just 2,000, 4,000, we would have to significantly increase the number of troops, and we’re back in this this war of attrition.
"And, and there was no way we were ever going to unite Ukraine, excuse me, Iraq, Afghanistan.
"No way that was going to happen.
"And so this is a much wiser thing to do.
"This man has the nuclear football,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said in response to the gaffe.
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"If, like Biden with Afghanistan, you choose to destroy a country for no reason except the fulfillment of your own ideological whimsy, you do owe it to the country to at least remember the name,” foreign policy researcher Kyle Orton said.
"Again, far worse in full context.
"Biden is either a liar without remorse; a compulsive liar with no control over it; or someone in serious mental decline who can’t remember events six months ago.
"None really make a good case for his being president.”
“So weird that they don’t let him do more interviews!” Abigail Marone, Press Secretary for Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) quipped.
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Republican Governor’s Association Communications Director Jesse Hunt tweeted, “Impressive, he listed all the places where he’s been part of foreign policy failures in one sentence.”
"Barely There Biden confuses Ukraine for Iraq and Afghanistan,” Journalist Ian Miles Cheong wrote.
"Soon, he will confuse whatever location’s in his head for Canada.”
WATCH:
Biden: "And there is no way we were ever going to unite Ukraine...I mean excuse me Iraq...Afghanistan." pic.twitter.com/QfZ67Hyp45
— Tommy Pigott (@TommyPigott) February 11, 2022
Biden’s remarks came during a portion of the interview where Holt asked Biden about a U.S. Army report that had just been released that said that the Biden administration was ill-prepared to effectively withdraw from Afghanistan.
"I have to draw your attention to that Army report, an investigative report that’s come out about the lead up to the withdrawal from Afghanistan,” Holt said.
"It interviewed many military officials and officers who said the administration ignored the handwriting on the wall.
"Another described trying to get folks in the Embassy ready to evacuate, encountering people who were essentially in denial of the situation.”
"Does any of that ring true to you?” Holt asked.
"No,” Biden claimed.
"No, that’s not what I was told.”
Biden later said that he rejected the findings of the report and doubled down on it when further pressed on the matter.
