Joe Biden gaffes 2020 edition: 'One-horse pony' to 'Luhan virus', top Bidenesque blunders of the election year
Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign had been as entertaining as his rival and President Donald Trump's. From forgetting who the current US president is to calling the coronavirus 'Luhan' virus, Biden has never failed to amuse and confuse his audience. He has even been dubbed as the 'Gaffe Machine' thanks to his husband-wife blunders, malapropisms, mixing up Covid-19 figures and forgetting who's who.
One-horse pony
President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday, December 22, said the federal tax probe targeting his son Hunter Biden’s murky financial dealings is “Russian misinformation”. And Biden went on to call the FOX reporter who asked for comment on the probe a “one-horse pony" in another blunder. Biden apparently meant to say "one-trick pony", which refers to somebody with only one talent or area of expertise.
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Joe Biden administration's biggest challenge will be keeping the White House gaffe-free
Gender blunders
Kamala Harris' wife
On October 27, Biden mistakenly called Kamala Harris' husband Doug Emhoff "Kamala's wife" while responding to a question regarding the effort his campaign had been making during the final week before the upcoming November elections. "You know, uh, we have 17 battleground states across the country and we’re not losing focus on securing, uh, uh, the many pathways to 270. But my wife Jill, as you know, and Doug Emhoff, uh, Kamala's wife, are there," he added.
Joe Biden's husband
On July 3, Jill Biden, Joe Biden’s wife, trended online for something her husband said in one of his videos. Many, including Donald Trump Jr, had called him out for addressing himself as “Joe Biden’s husband Joe Biden”.
Family faux pas
'Love of my life'
In an interview in May, the former vice president became the butt of jokes after he tried to express his love for his sister with an unusual phrase. To the question "Does Joe Biden have a brother?" he replied, "Lucky, I have two younger brothers, I am the oldest of three and I have a sister who is 'the love of my life'." While his answer seemed innocent enough, netizens could not help but pull his leg over his choice of phrase to describe his love for his sister.
Wife or sister
On March 3, Biden confused his wife for his sister during a speech, where he said, "This is my little sister, Valerie," while grabbing his wife's hand. However, after realizing the faux pas, he said, "Oh, no, this is her," pointing to his sister, to whom he then said, "You've switched on me."
Who's who gaffes
4 more years of George
On October 26, during the virtual “I Will Vote” concert, Biden seemed to have forgotten that Donald Trump is the incumbent US president and went on to say 'four more years of George', raising speculations whether he meant George W Bush or his father George HW Bush. “Four more years of George uh…George, going to find ourselves in a position if Trump gets elected, we are going to be in a different world,” he said. Later, the Biden camp clarified that he was referring to comedian George Lopez, who hosted the event.
Mormon senator
On October 12, Biden appeared to forget the name of Mitt Romney while speaking at an event in Ohio. “I got in trouble when we were running against that senator who was a Mormon, the governor,” Biden said, referring to Romney who also ran against Barack Obama in the 2012 election and lost.
Malapropisms
Iraq and Iran
In January, Biden mistook Iran for Iraq while condemning Trump's move to assassinate Iran’s top military leader Qassem Soleimani in an air attack outside the airport in Baghdad earlier this year. While referring to Iraq's parliamentary move to push American coalitions out of the country, Biden said: "The Iran Parliament." "The Iran parliament voted to reject all Americans coalition forces in the country, and however you may feel about American military presence in the Middle East, there's a right way and a wrong way to draw down our troops," he added.
Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher
In April, Biden had an apparent "Freudian slip" at a fundraiser in Columbia, South Carolina, when he flubbed the name of former UK Prime Minister Theresa May and called her Margaret Thatcher instead. “Margaret Thatcher, um, excuse me, Margaret Thatcher — Freudian slip,” Biden said, according to a campaign pool report. “But I knew her too.” He then corrected himself by saying: “The Prime Minister of Great Britain Theresa May.”
Proud Boys and Poor Boys
In October, during the second presidential debate, Biden suffered an embarrassing slip-up, when he fudged the name of far-right group Proud Boys, and called them "Poor Boys" instead.
Running for Senate
In February, Biden told South Carolina voters he's a "candidate for the US Senate". In the same speech, he even went on to say, "Look me over, if you like what you see help out, if not, vote for the other Biden." In October, while addressing United Auto Workers, which represents a local GM powertrain unit, in Toledo, Ohio, the former veep said: “You know, we have to come together. That’s why I’m running. I’m running as a proud Democrat for the Senate, when I ran as a proud Democrat for vice president, and I'm running as a proud Democrat for president.”
Covid-19 mix-up
Luhan virus
In March, Biden had made the "Luhan" blunder during a live interview with MSNBC. "I suggested we should have people in China at the outset of this event when it all started — in Luhan province," he had said.
Covid-9
In April, Biden referred to the killer disease as "Covid-9" instead of "Covid-19" during a virtual town hall with frontline workers. "There is more than one coronavirus. This Covid-9 is one strain of that," he said.
Death toll
The Presidential candidate got Covid-19 death toll wrong at least three times so far. In May, Biden said 600,000 Americans died of Covid-19 when the actual death toll was over 60,000. In June, he claimed that 120 million people died of coronavirus while the real figure then was around 122,000. In September, he said 200 million Americans died while actual toll is below 200,000. The total population of the US is just over 330 million.