With his 2024 re-election bid in mind, President Joe Biden finally acknowledged the “situation” at our southern border — massive numbers of illegal immigrants streaming into this country — during a Thursday news conference at the White House.
Biden announced his intention to visit the border at long last — he’ll travel to El Paso, Texas, on Sunday — and unveiled his administration’s new plan to address the border crisis.
The strategy, as you might expect, was feeble. But it was the president’s delivery that grabbed most of the headlines.
Biden made two big errors during his remarks. Neither gaffe, if made by a competent person, would have necessarily raised alarm bells. But the fact that he failed to correct either of them — along with the frequency with which he makes these kinds of blunders — is what’s worrying.
The first was one he has made repeatedly in the past; he referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “President Harris.”
“I’m not being facetious,” Biden told reporters. “President Harris led this effort, led this effort, to make things better in the countries from which they are leaving. And thanks to her leadership, she’s been able to generate more than $3.2 billion from the private sector to create opportunities in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.”
A slight look of amusement crossed Harris’ face, but neither she nor the president made a correction.
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The second error was more serious.
“Since August of last year, Customs and Border Patrol have seized more than 20,000 pounds of deadly fentanyl,” Biden said. “That’s enough to kill — kill as many as 1,000 people in this country. Twenty thousand pounds of fentanyl. It’s a killer. It’s a flat killer.”
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The reality is that 20,000 pounds of fentanyl is enough to kill every American, as George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley noted on Twitter.
…Just 15,000 pounds is enough to kill every American.https://t.co/UdyE011XXE
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) January 5, 2023
Other Twitter users also noted the gaffe.
According to media ordained medical expert Joe Biden, if you consume 20 pounds of fentanyl you will die.
Take 19 pounds though and you could have a fighting chance?pic.twitter.com/7bu9gtfKpA
— Daniel Bostic (@debostic) January 5, 2023
Biden: “20,000 lbs of fentanyl is enough to kill 1,000 people in this country.”
That would be enough fentanyl to kill nearly everyone on the planet.
pic.twitter.com/fgLPlxbpWJ— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 5, 2023
Republican Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana weighed in on Twitter to say that Biden is “either clueless about this deadly crisis or simply doesn’t care.”
Joe Biden said “20,000 pounds of fentanyl could kill 1,000 people.”
20,000 pounds of fentanyl is enough to kill BILLIONS of people.
He is either clueless about this deadly crisis or simply doesn’t care.
— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) January 5, 2023
It’s great that border agents intercepted 20,000 pounds of fentanyl, but Biden neglected to mention the huge quantities of the drug that avoid detection. The advocacy group Families Against Fentanyl, citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said fentanyl poisoning was the No. 1 cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45.
After two years of insisting the border is secure, Biden and his administration know they must acknowledge a problem exists or risk this issue becoming an albatross around their neck in the 2024 campaign.
As usual, through a two-part approach of blaming Republicans for refusing to work with them on immigration and giving the impression they are taking steps to secure the border, they’ll try to avoid responsibility. Will they succeed?
The frequency of Biden’s blunders has become a constant theme in his presidency and has undermined confidence in his ability to lead the country.
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Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas, a former White House physician, has led the charge in declaring Biden cognitively unfit for office, and he did so again after Thursday’s news conference.
“Biden STRUGGLED today in his press conference,” Jackson said on Twitter. “He stumbled over words. He called Kamala, ‘President Harris.’ It was a DISASTER. He doesn’t know where he’s at or what he’s saying. He has NO IDEA what’s going on!!”
Biden STRUGGLED today in his press conference. He stumbled over words. He called Kamala, “President Harris.” It was a DISASTER. He doesn’t know where he’s at or what he’s saying. He has NO IDEA what’s going on!!
— Ronny Jackson (@RonnyJacksonTX) January 5, 2023
Biden has shown signs of cognitive decline since he launched his run for the presidency in April 2019, and it keeps getting worse and worse.
Although it appears ludicrous that rational people would even consider re-electing him, Pennsylvanians just elected John Fetterman to represent them in the U.S. Senate.
Never underestimate the Democrats. It could happen again.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.