I think it’s fair to say that Joe Biden’s trip to Vietnam did not go well.
Biden’s press conference in Hanoi was truly bizarre, even for him. He talked about “following orders” when calling on only a few preselected reporters and having prepared notes. But that didn’t save him, because he went over the edge anyway, talking about “dog-faced pony soldiers.” His staff even pulled the plug on the presser as he was saying something mid-word after he had trouble even speaking at one point, and said he had to go to bed. He then insulted the Southern Hemisphere by calling them “third world.”
On top of all that, he was in Vietnam on 9/11 rather than back in the United States at one of the sites of the attack, as has been the tradition for American leaders for the past 22 years. Instead, he visited a monument to the capture of John McCain. His excuse for skipping out on being at a 9/11 site was pitiful. According to Fox’s Peter Doocy, the excuse was “22 years after Pearl Harbor, U.S. Presidents were not still going to visit Hawaii.” What a terrible response, and as my colleague Sister Toldjah explained, it wasn’t even close to being true. He somehow managed to make things even worse.
Biden did manage to make it back to the U.S. — to Alaska — later in the day on Monday and gave remarks about 9/11 where he joked about how he could have been an All-American and claimed that he was at Ground Zero the day after the attack when the facts showed otherwise.
But Biden wasn’t done with the embarrassing actions quite yet; he still had one more to go for the day.
— Dr. Nickarama (@nickaramaOG) September 12, 2023
“President Vo Van Thuong, thank you for such a productive meeting. This partnership is about unleashing our peoples’ potential and, with it, a range of incredible possibilities,” Biden posted on X.
Except as Townhall’s John Hasson caught, that wasn’t Thuong in the picture. It was Vuong Dinh Hue, Chair of the National Assembly of Vietnam.
YIKES
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) September 12, 2023
Biden’s team just posted a picture thanking Vietnam President Võ Văn Thưởng
There’s just one problem—that’s not Thưởng in the picture
It’s Vuong Dinh Hue, Chairman of the National Assembly 😬 pic.twitter.com/MeVpPzKCbS
So Joe Biden doesn’t know who he met with where, and he can’t keep the leaders he meets with straight in his head after meeting with them? And/or his staff are just incredibly incompetent when they make mistakes like this. Yikes, indeed.
This is Biden meeting with Vo Van Thuong at the Presidential Palace.
President Biden and Vietnam President Vo Van Thuong meet at Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam pic.twitter.com/ujQCqPaUb1
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) September 11, 2023
Biden even had a state luncheon with him, but still couldn’t retain who he was in his brain.
Biden met Vuong Dinh Hue later in the day at the National Assembly.
Biden — or whoever is behind his account — later deleted the post.
Biden also seemed to have no sense of history or how he was being manipulated here, as they have him sitting under a huge bust of Ho Chi Minh. He even posted a picture of it himself.
It was great sitting down with Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính of Vietnam in Hanoi.
— President Biden (@POTUS) September 11, 2023
Between our U.S.–Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and our new Semiconductor Partnership, the future we’re writing together will be strong. pic.twitter.com/RQaRZQDAGl
If Biden’s Monday wasn’t embarrassing enough already, this certainly capped off the day.