Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders mocks Biden's NATO summit gaffes

Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders mocked President Biden for misidentifying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyas President Putin at the NATO summit.

President Joe Biden dashed any hopes of garnering positive headlines after the presidential debate disaster against Donald Trump last month when he stumbled over the names of some of the leaders at the NATO leaders’ conference on Thursday (Jul11).

While attempting to introduce Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, President Biden stated, “Now I want to hand it over to the President of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he does determination. Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin.”

Realising his error shortly afterwards, he attempted to recover, stating, "President Putin!? We're gonna beat President Putin. President Zelensky. I'm so focused on beating Putin, we’ve got to worry about it. Anyway."

In another slip, President Biden seemingly tried to refer to Vice President Kamala Harris as his main political adversary, saying, “Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president [if] I think she’s not qualified to be president”.

While European leaders at the summit were diplomatic and praised the event's organization, the European press, including Britain's Daily Telegraph, concluded that "Biden looks finished."

Poking fun at the gaffes on Friday (Jul 12), Dutch populist leader Geert Wilders posted a picture of Kamala Harris and Zelensky standing together with the caption, "President Putin meets Vice President Trump."

Last week,Prime Minister Dick Schoof's newly formed Dutch cabinet, which includes five ministers from Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom Party (PVV) and two from the populist Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB), garnered significant attention in the Netherlands. Wilders’ party had previously shocked the nation by securing the top spot in the November elections.

(With inputs from agencies)