In the middle of the campaign for the Democratic primary, the American president made a new blunder by quoting François Mitterrand in an anecdote dating back to 2021. The former French president died in 1996.
Joe Biden was in the state of Nevada on Saturday February 4, where he continued his campaign for the Democratic primaries. It was during a speech in Las Vegas that the American president’s remarks made the audience raise eyebrows. Telling a behind-the-scenes anecdote from a G7 summit held in 2021, Biden reported an exchange with François Mitterrand, the French president who died in 1996.
“Right after I was elected, I went to a G7 meeting, Joe Biden said. It was in the south of England, I sat down and I said: ‘America is back ‘. And Mitterrand from Germany… I mean from France, looked at me and said: ‘How long have you been back for?'”
The American president is referring to a G7 summit which took place shortly after he took office in 2021, in Carbis Bay, Cornwall. On this occasion, François Mitterrand was obviously not present. On the other hand, Emmanuel Macron did participate in this summit, as head of a member state of the Group of Seven. Joe Biden therefore probably confused the names of the two French presidents.
The American president is used to blunders like this, having confused Ukraine and Iraq last June. Each of his gaffes reignites the controversy surrounding his advanced age, while he is the favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination, at the age of 81.
