Former Vice President Joe Biden once again put his foot in his mouth on Monday night when he told a crowd in South Carolina all about his experience negotiating the Paris Climate Agreement with a Chinese leader who just happens to have been dead for decades.
Biden was giving all of the details about his fight against climate change when he told the crowd gathered at the College of Charleston about how he worked on the Paris Deal during his time with the Obama administration. Imagine the surprise of the crowd in Charleston when the former VP said that he had worked with a Chinese leader that has been dead for quite some time now – 23 years to be exact.
“I’m the guy that came back after meeting with Deng Xiaoping and making the case that I believe China would join if we put pressure on them,” Biden said.
It is to be noted that Biden was Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2017, and that Chinese leader Den Xiaoping had already been dead almost 12 years when Obama and Biden took their oaths.
Like any savvy opponent would, President Donald Trump’s campaign team quickly pointed out Biden’s error.
“Joe Biden claimed tonight that he worked with Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping on the Paris Climate Accord,” Trump’s campaign posted on social media. “Except the current Chinese President is Xi Jinping. Deng Xiapoing left office in 1992 and has been dead for 23 years,” they mocked.
The Paris Agreement was created in late 2015 and later adopted in 2016. Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese leader who was best known for presiding over the government’s crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests, retired from his reign in 1992 and died in 1997. Biden presumably misspoke and was most likely referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping while he was embellishing, instead of leader Deng Xiaoping.
The presidential hopeful stumbled again during his speech in Charleston, SC when he was talking about gun control. His obvious lack of knowledge about anything relating to guns was apparent when he made this statement.
“Who in God’s name needs a hundred rounds in a bullet, in a clip, with a gun you have?”
And…it didn’t end there. Biden also even seemed to have a difficult time remembering which job he was actually seeking. When he was finishing his speech at the South Carolina Democratic Party’s First in the South Dinner, he had this to say about the current office for which he is seeking election.
“Where I come from, you don’t get far unless you ask. My name’s Joe Biden. I’m a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate. Look me over. If you like what you see, help out. If not, vote for the other Biden,” he said.
It was a night of oddities for the presidential hopeful, with him seemingly not being too aware of exactly what he was saying to the crowd in Charleston. It’s a bit reminiscent of him sharing the never heard before tidbit while on the campaign trail about him once being arrested in South Africa for trying to see Nelson Mandela in prison.
It sounds like someone is feeling the pressure of the presidential campaign trail, for sure.
