Biden Fumbles Words, Loses Place More Than 10 Times in Short Oval Office Speech About Assassination Attempt

Ben Mathis-Lilley
·3 min read
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On Saturday, what was already one of the more unusual presidential elections in U.S. history took another turn. A Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania ended with the former president being rushed offstage while the dead body of the man who tried to shoot him lay exposed on a nearby rooftop; elsewhere in the crowd, a supporter was shot in the head and killed.

The event intersected at a strange angle with what had previously been the dominant story of the campaign: Incumbent President Joe Biden’s advanced age (81) and the seemingly escalating problems he has speaking and thinking. Although a number of Democrats have called on Biden to end his campaign, he has said he is not considering doing so. On Sunday, reports in Semafor and on CBS News said that the Democratic movement to push Biden out has been halted by the attack on Trump. In what may be hopeful reasoning introduced by Biden’s supporters, the idea in circulation is that Democrats, especially the current president, need to project calm and stability right now to voters fearing further chaos and violence.

The problems with this argument—and in the idea that Biden is capable of catching Trump in the polls by running a more active campaign—were evident in his televised Sunday night address from the Oval Office. Tasked with delivering from a teleprompter a simple speech about civility and national unity, Biden tripped over words repeatedly and appeared to lose his place at least once.

Excerpts from the White House’s official transcript:

Thankfully, former [President] Trump is not seriously linjured [injured]. I spoke with him last night. I’m grateful he’s doing well. And Jill and I keep him and his family in our prayers. …But in America, we resolve our differences at the battol [ballot] box. You know, that’s how we do it, at the battol [ballot] box, not with bullets. The power to change America should always rest in the hands of the people, not in the hands of a would-be assassin. …You know, we’re blessed to live in the greatest country on Earth. And I believe that with every soul—every power of my being. So, tonight, I’m asking every American to recommit to make America so—make America what it i—think about it. What’s made America so special?

These weren’t the only mistakes, and it wasn’t always even clear what Biden meant to say—at one point, for instance, he denounced “the information and intimidation on election officials.” In a speech that lasted only six minutes, he misspoke at least 11 times.

Being unable to communicate clearly limits Biden’s ability to convince undecided voters that he should be reelected. And it limits his ability to convince Democrats that he is the candidate most likely to defeat Donald Trump in November. But it also limits his ability to perform the job of the presidency now. Why other Democrats would imagine that a national crisis makes this less apparent, rather than more, is a mystery.