In a speech on Saturday night in Richmond, Virginia, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump confused Barack Obama as the current U.S. President.
"And [Vladimir] Putin has so little respect for Obama that he's starting to throw around the 'nuclear' word. He's starting to talk nuclear weapons, today," the former president said during a "Get Out The Vote Rally."
This isn't the first time the former president has confused Obama and current President Joe Biden. Trump's latest gaffe was met with immediate mocking on social media.
Ron Filipkowski, the editor-in-chief of the independent news network MeidasTouch, posted on X, formerly Twitter: "This will be yet another one of the 127 other instances where tomorrow Trump will claim he mixed up Obama and Biden again on purpose."
The Context:
According to a November 12, 2023 article in Forbes, Trump confused Obama and Biden at least seven times between September and November of last year.
Biden's own forgetfulness has become an increasingly sore spot for his 2024 reelection campaign, highlighted in Special Counsel Robert Hur's recent remarks characterizing the president as "an elderly man with a poor memory." Saying that his "memory is fine," Biden and a number of his associates have denied the claim.
During an appearance on NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers on Monday, Feb. 26, Biden, 81, turned the tables on Trump, 77, when he suggested that his Republican rival had cognitive issues of his own.
When asked by host Seth Meyers about his age being "a real concern for American voters," Biden responded: "Well, a couple of things. Number one, you got to take a look at the other guy. He's about as old as I am but he can't remember his wife's name."
The president appeared to be referring to Donald Trump's recent CPAC address, following which some claimed he had referred to his wife Melania as Mercedes.
"Well look, my wife, our great first lady, she was great... people love her," Trump told the CPAC crowd on Saturday. The audience applauded, to which Trump responded "Oh look at that, wow. Mercedes, that's pretty good!"
What We Know:
When reached for comment via email Saturday night, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung did not address the Obama-Biden confusion, but instead responded with a link to a fiery video posted Wednesday to Trump Campaign social media accounts.
In the video, Trump states that, "I made the statement that Melania was very popular because when I mentioned her name, the audience went wild. I then looked at the two people man and wife Matt and Mercedes Schlapp. Then I said, 'Wow, they really like the first lady. So this got taken as the fact that I thought Mercedes was the first lady. It has nothing to do with that."
Trump has said that Biden "must take a cognitive test" after the president's annual physical exam on Wednesday did not include one.
Writing recently on Truth Social, Trump said: "Crooked Joe Biden must take a Cognitive Test. Maybe that way we would be able to find out why he makes such terrible decisions. I took two of them, and ACED them both (no mistakes!). All Presidents, or people wanting to become President, should mandatorily take this test!"
Views:
Trump has previously insinuated that Obama is secretly still running the White House.
"It's never been worse than it is now under crooked Joe Biden and, frankly, his boss, Barack Hussein Obama," Trump said at an October stop in New Hampshire. "I think it's his boss."
Keith Boykin, a White House aide for former President Bill Clinton, posted on X, "Trump keeps confusing President Biden with President Obama. He doesn't seem to know what year it is. It's like he's stuck in 2012, when he was running his racist birther campaign, and can't move on."
The @CamelotReturns X profile, a pro-Ron DeSantis X account, posted:
"Across the country, from Iowa to New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina...
Republicans are seeing Trump's cognitive decline (like getting Biden confused with Obama AGAIN) and realizing they've made a TERRIBLE mistake!
'We're nominating the wrong guy!'"
What's Next
Most surveys over the last several months have shown Trump leading Biden, including in key swing states where the election is expected to be decided.
New polling spells further trouble for Biden, showing that 10 percent of voters who backed him in 2020 now plan to support Trump in November.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Gabe Whisnant is Deputy Weekend Editor at Newsweek based in South Carolina. Prior to joining Newsweek in 2023, he directed ... Read more
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