President Joe Biden said he assured the French president that ‘America was back’ after the 2020 election. He’s often used this anecdote on the stump to differentiate himself from the Trump presidency. It’s typical concerning two very different heads of state.
Yet, someone should tell Joe it’s hard to sell that point when you don’t even know who the president of the French Republic is. In Nevada, Biden said he told “Francois Mitterrand” that America’s leadership in the world has been restored with his ascension to the White House. Mitterrand has been dead for almost 30 years. Biden made this error on Sunday in Las Vegas (via Fox News):
Biden tells crowd he recently met with Mitterrand, former French president who died in 1996.
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) February 6, 2024
"Right after I was elected I went to a G7 meeting. I sat down and said, 'America is back!' and Mitterand from Germany -- I mean France, looked at me and said, 'how long you back for?'" pic.twitter.com/X7hJH8SHk9
President Biden told a crowd in Las Vegas on Sunday that he recently met with Francois Mitterrand, the French president who has been dead for nearly 30 years.
The comments came while Biden was warning of the dangers of a potential second Trump presidency, as he aimed to shore up enthusiasm ahead of Tuesday’s Democratic primary in Nevada.
Biden recounted a story he has told many times during his presidency, about a meeting he had with French President Emmanuel Macron during a G7 meeting in England, some months after Biden had taken over the White House.
"I sat down and I said, ‘America’s back,’" Biden recalled. "And Mitterrand from Germany – I mean from France – looked at me and said…"
Biden appeared to trail off before collecting his thoughts to finish the sentence: "Well, how long are you back for?"
The president continued, saying the "Chancellor of Germany" asked him how he – and by extension, the U.S. – would respond if, hypothetically, thousands of people stormed Britain’s House of Commons and killed two "bobbies," or British police officers, to stop the election of a Prime Minister.
François Mitterrand was France's president between 1981 and 1995. He died in 1996.
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And alas, we see why Biden’s team doesn’t want him to interview with CBS News on Super Bowl Sunday. It’s one of the few outlets where he reportedly has maintained good relations, but mixing up Macron and Mitterrand is a harbinger of a horror show that could unfold, even on friendly territory. Biden steams that his approval ratings are worse than Trump’s at this point in his presidency, filled with indignation that he isn’t getting credit for the economic rebound. With inflation as high as it is, no one is feeling the revival.
Almost half the country said they’re worse off now than four years ago—an election killer for most administrations. The irony is that Biden needs to exploit these moments where tens of millions are tuning in for a sporting event to sell his record, bash Trump, and peddle the usual talking points about abortion if he can weave that in there. The problem is he can’t do it. The batteries are conking out, and he’s no more than a Triple-A ballplayer regarding political skill. Obama and Trump are big-league hitters. Biden can barely bunt. Coupled with the dementia, I’d say the Super Bowl absence explains itself.
painful https://t.co/rDhXgKvrqo
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 6, 2024
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The satire pieces have been great:
Biden Touts Productive Climate Change Meeting With French Leader Napoleon Bonaparte https://t.co/nO7INuKYtu pic.twitter.com/uTQ435IrYs
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) February 6, 2024
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