Joe Biden unleashes a torrent of gaffes at the G7 leaders summit

America is back and so are the gaffes from the US president, whose antics would be funny if they weren’t so dangerous, writes James Morrow

There was a reason why Joe Biden’s handlers didn’t let him out in public during his election campaign, and it wasn’t because they were scared of him catching coronavirus.

But after months of good behaviour — and barely any interaction with the press, in contrast with his predecessor’s nearly obsessive media availability — Joe Biden was finally able to cut loose at the G7 this weekend, unleashing a torrent of gaffes and howlers.

Whoops! There was the president telling reporters that he had to call on them in a specific order or he would “get in trouble with staff”, as he fumbled with his note cards.

US President Joe Biden with Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle on June 13, 2021. Picture: Getty

This had plenty of people asking the obvious question, Why? Unless there was some prearranged order and perhaps even script for the whole thing.

It didn’t help when he seemed to state the name of the reporter he was calling on — Jennifer Jacob from Bloomberg — as if her affiliation were her last name, as in Jennifer Jacob-Bloomberg.

Off! There he was having to be gently corrected by Boris Johnson — not always the most disciplined speaker himself — when he forgot that the UK prime minister had just introduced the South African president, and jumped in to save the day with his own introduction, complete with double fist-pump. Well done, Mr President.

US President Joe Biden inspects a Guard of Honour after arriving to meet Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle on June 13, 2021. Picture: Getty

As tends to happen after this sort of incident, an aide quickly called “let’s go”, presumably to usher the press out of the room.

Perhaps more seriously, Biden also managed to confuse Syria and Libya several times when talking about Russia’s role there.

Now, we can all be charitable here, and say well, not everyone is the most deft speaker, and it’s what’s upstairs that counts – not that such a courtesy was ever extended to Donald Trump.

But with fellow world leaders and plenty of headline writers extolling that with Biden’s presidency “America is back”, it’s worth asking what that means.

US President Joe Biden arrives at Melsbroek Military Airport, near Brussels on June 13, 2021, for two days of summits with the G7. Picture: AFP

Mr Trump, after all, was elected because he promised to stop the “managed decline” of America that seemed to be foretold by global elites happy to see China and others replace the US’s pre-eminent position.

Mr Biden, meanwhile, is about to go into a meeting with Vladimir Putin, a man who will be quick to take advantage of any verbal miscues.

Not that the Russian dictator will have to: Biden has already given Putin a huge win by waiving US sanctions on a gas pipeline known as Nord Stream 2 that will allow Moscow to hold much of energy-hungry Europe to ransom.

Yep, America is “back”. And it’s not just the gaffes.