Has Biden just lost the election?

[EmmaGrundyForPM]

I've just watched the news and seen Biden forget Trumps name. Not just a quick slip of the tongue and corrected, but calling him George and not knowing how to correct himself.

I absolutely don't blame him - I often struggle to remember something, or call ds1 by ds2s name. We all do it. And Biden is presumably very tired in the run up to next week.

But Trump is of course making huge capital out of this and I'm worried that voters who are wavering will swing back to Trump.

Please tell me I'm wrong!

gabs It is the fact he didn't even notice that he had said the wrong name twice, additionally his train of thought became lost and his words became garbled. It was a really worrying episode that anyone with experience of dementia will recognise straight away. It is not the same as you mixing up names!

madame would you not be concerned that the person with the nuclear codes appears to have dementia? Because if I was American, I would be incredibly worried about this.

Agree they are both elderly but Biden is 78 in about three weeks. Personally I think trump is also too old but he seems more vibrant, Biden I think is just too old now, as he will be 82 when this term finishes if he wins, where as trump would be turning 78.

I still can’t believe the American public voted trump in. And I am struggling to understand why they fielded Biden against him

This election is between those who want trump and those who don’t. The fact it’s Biden is fairly irrelevant. But this sort of error just amplifies his age.

all Friendsoftheearth yes, clearly dementia. The excuses are pathetic and frankly insulting.

I suspect it’s what the op said, Biden is exhausted and it’s taken it’s toll on him. I think this is to be expected when you’re knocking on eighty. I suspect it’s more that than dementia and we shouldn’t be quick to diagnose.

It is insulting to anyone of average intelligence he looks like he needs to be in care home, not running the world's largest superpower.

You have to wonder how it has possibly come to this. Given the desperation to remove Trump you would think they would have a bullet proof, vibrant energetic leader that can offer vision, hope and stability. Instead they have thrust forward a frail, old man with dementia whom seemingly struggles to follow the conversation much less world events. I am worried, deeply worried for our friends in the US.

Just why would you do that?

For the last 4 years the person with the nuclear codes has shown very clear signs of having a severe personality disorder, inability to grasp basic facts and refusal to listen to people with more expertise than him. I can’t see that Biden losing his train of thought in an interview and using the wrong name is a more worrying sign than the president taking a sharpie to a weather map to prove he was right when he accidentally claimed a hurricane was heading to a state that it wasn’t. If Biden produces a sharpie-edited copy of Trump’s birth certificate where he’s crossed out Donald and replaced it with George and insists that actually he didn’t misspeak and was right all along then maybe we are getting close to it being a difficult decision.

Honestly, I just watched the clip for the first time and expected it to be much worse.

He says the wrong name, she knows he did, he knows he did but moes past it, he then goes on to say the right name. Seems a non-issue, but then I am not voting and how some others vote rarely makes a lot of sense, to me.

Even if Biden was in a coma he would still make a better president than the clown they have in now. i am hopeful for a good outcome next week.

Friends
Trump is being or recently been investigated because of his erratic and euphoric behaviour, which increased post Covid, probably due to the drugs he took. He also has signs of dementia. Are you saying you’re not concerned with trump having the nuclear codes but you are concerned with Biden having them?

Are you also aware that Trump is so erratic that he went to Pennsylvania about a week ago and announced he was only there because they were down in the polls? Have you forgotten that he made himself into a bio weapon by forcing his highly trained security to drive him round in a hermetically sealed vehicle for shits and giggles? Is that really someone, you want with the finger on the button?

trump has said many odd things covfefe anyone? but no thats ok because he deleted it

dont forget he doesnt know states in his own country or where anything is and also injecting bleach

madame I think the reality is that Trump has not been that bad in the last four years, considering the very real fear we had when he was voted in. I cried when the results came out, I remember it well how worried we were that he would go to war with NK and all the rest.

Some people will feel it is better the devil you know, and at least he is going to get the economy moving. They see a president that survived covid, and shouts for America and its interests until his blue in the face. Yes of course I would prefer a green leader, that will transform the hatred into peace, oil to green energy and set the world on a better course - the issue I have is that I very much doubt that will Biden!

I don't see Biden as a vision and guardian of the freeworld. I see a very fragile old man and that is the problem. We can't just gloss over the truth. The truth is that he just too old to do the job properly or at all.

One has to feel some sympathy for at least some of the American electorate having to choose between these two clowns .

mummy I have friends in America, and they are deeply worried, every time Biden opens his mouth they are holding their breath. How is that ever truly going to work? Even if his health holds out in the interim.

Trump to me looks victorious after his fight with covid, to me he has come out all guns blazing looking very healthy, fighting talk and all the rest. It has worked in his favour, not the other way around. He has now cemented the view that covid can be beaten, and his testament to that.

I don't support Trump, but I can see why his chances of winning are increasing. We needed a first class leader to challenge Trump and we didn't get one.

@goldenharvest

I think the democrats did the wrong thing in putting such an elderly man forward. It's not a job for an old man I'm afraid.

Agreed. He is knocking on 80. I'm sure he is fit and healthy but to run the world's superpower?! Not so sure. That said, Trump isn't far behind him!!

They should have gone with Harris - Harris would have given Trump a true run for his money, she would have represented so many Americans, and will almost certainly still be here in four years time. Too late now.

I wish they'd gone for Warren.
I suspect the US will get it's first woman President by deaf because they don't seem to want to vote for one.

Its supposedly a swing state but my MiL says she doesnt know anyone who is voting for Biden apart from her.

Of course she doesn't. I don't know anyone who is going to vote for trump. Because people tend to stick with like minded people.

And if they are voting for Trump, Biden could be cannonised and cure cancer tomorrow and it wouldn't make a difference, so one slip of the tongue won't cause any sensible undecided voter to change. Undecided numbers are really low anyway.

Also worth remembering the interviewer was called George.

Unless Trump wins and then dies or leaves office before the end of his term we are going to break the record for the oldest ever President no matter what happens. I do think it’s sad that candidates for the presidency increasingly resemble candidates for the Papacy, with so many high level politicians now well past the point at which you might have expected them to retire but I can’t see why Americans would be more worried by this than by Trump’s behaviour in office. There are also plenty of videos out there of Trump calling people by the wrong name he’s done it on numerous occasions as well as publicly forgetting or failing to understand the briefings he is given by experts and advisors. Injecting bleach, the hurricane location, Covid just going away as if by magic, buying Greenland... I just don’t believe that Americans who were worried by that sort of behaviour will see Joe Biden forgetting a name as outweighing all of that.

@MintyMabel but that's not what I meant. MiL is a Democrat but everyone she knows is pro Trump. If she could find another Democrat locally she would be delighted!

madame I think the reality is that Trump has not been that bad in the last four years

I beg to differ. The USA is an unstable mess pitting citizens against each other. 220k people have died from a disease that the President doesn't seem to take much notice of and he's still holding rallies with no masks. He also owes nearly a billion dollars to foreign entities and has a huge bank account in China. His impact on the environment has been catastrophic and he refused to condemn Russia for putting bounties on the heads of US soldiers. The President has 26 rape or sexual assualt cases pending. He incites hatred and violence. He's broken so many laws that nobody even blinks anymore. He's spiteful, petty and calls people names.

I can't even fit the rest in one post!

@Mummyoflittledragon

Friends Trump is being or recently been investigated because of his erratic and euphoric behaviour, which increased post Covid, probably due to the drugs he took. He also has signs of dementia. Are you saying you’re not concerned with trump having the nuclear codes but you are concerned with Biden having them?

Are you also aware that Trump is so erratic that he went to Pennsylvania about a week ago and announced he was only there because they were down in the polls? Have you forgotten that he made himself into a bio weapon by forcing his highly trained security to drive him round in a hermetically sealed vehicle for shits and giggles? Is that really someone, you want with the finger on the button?

Exactly.

I genuinely don't understand how someone can think Biden is mentally frail but Trump is powerful and strong and mentally fit. He talks complete nonsense half the time, his tweets are unhinged, he barely does any actual work, he needs help to walk down a ramp. He's coated in orange makeup and fake hair. He's an utter shambles and the only people who can't see it are the same people who think 'he's not that bad'.

We needed a first class leader to challenge Trump and we didn't get one.

I don't understand this sentiment. You would need a world class leader to replace someone who was really effective and handling things well.

You don't need a world class leader to replace someone who is the cause of so many problems right now.

I wish they'd gone for Warren
They should have gone with Harris

It would have been a very tough call to try and convince the electorate to vote for a woman, and more so for a woman of colour. The swing from racist, misogynist would be too far. It would have put a known obstacle in the way. I didn't like it but the only possible opponent to trump was a white man, preferably an old-ish one. That represents the least amount of change.

I do wish it had been Warren though.

"My PiL live in rural Pennsylvania. Its supposedly a swing state but my MiL says she doesnt know anyone who is voting for Biden apart from her."

Well that's probably because she lives in rural Pennsylvania where few to none will be voting for him