Joe Biden’s baffling salutation to the queen

The US President caused confusion when he finished a speech by saying ‘God save the queen, man’.

Joe Biden made the comment in Philadelphia. Picture: AFP

US President Joe Biden caused confusion when he finished a speech by saying “God save the queen, man”.

Mr Biden, 80, made the comment, which later appeared in the White House transcript of the speech in Connecticut, as he spoke about efforts to end gun ­violence.

It was not clear whether the President was referring to Elizabeth II, who died in September. Mr Biden flew to Britain for her funeral.

Olivia Dalton, the White House deputy press secretary, said the President had been “commenting to someone in the crowd”. It was not clear who ex­actly he was addressing.

Last September, Mr Biden asked during a speech “Where’s Jackie?” as he searched for Jackie Walorski, an Indiana congresswoman who had died in a car accident the month before.

In April he appeared to forget about his recent visit to Ireland, despite having gushed about his roots in Dublin days earlier when he met schoolchildren at the White House.

Such incidents have led to questions about the President’s cognitive ability, which may become an election issue next year. Donald Trump, who was 77 last week, has long attacked him as “sleepy Joe”.

On Saturday, Mr Biden spoke at a union event in Philadelphia, one of his first campaign stops for the election.

“We’ve got a fight on our hands,” he told the audience of about 2000. “My question to you is simple: Are you with me?”

Although he does not face a serious challenge for the Democratic nomination, some have said his campaign has had a slow start.

On Friday, he insisted that his attempt for a second term in the White House began months ago. “I kicked it off a long time ago,” he said.

The campaign is yet to find a headquarters in Wilmington, the President’s home town in Delaware, and has few full-time campaign staff.

Ron DeSantis, the main Republican Party challenger to Mr Trump, has given his first big campaign speech since the former president was indicted on federal charges.

At a rally in Nevada on Saturday, the Florida Governor, wearing jeans and with his shirt untucked, returned to familiar themes, saying America was “off the rails”.

The “leftist government is destroying cities all over our country”, Mr DeSantis, 44, said. “It’s destroying other states … I have no interest in managing decline. I am going to reverse it.”

THE TIMES