President Biden is floundering in the oceans of the world.
The 80-year-old commander-in-chief mixed up his geography for the second time in six days Wednesday night while addressing the League of Conservation Voters’ annual dinner in Washington.
“We have plans to build a railroad from the Pacific all the way across the Indian Ocean,” the president declared.
“We have plans to build in — in Angola one of the largest solar plants in the world,” Biden added before reeling himself in. “I can go on, but I’m not. I’m going off-script. I’m going to get in trouble.”
Biden is a well-known train enthusiast, but constructing a railway line “across” the world’s third-largest ocean has never been on the agenda.
Biden made a similar gaffe last week during a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
“We’re talking about building — and I had my team putting together with other countries as well — to build a railroad from the Pacific Ocean — from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Indian Ocean,” he said at the time, clumsily describing a proposal to construct a rail line crossing sub-Saharan Africa.
Africa is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean — not the Pacific, which is more than a thousand miles away from the nearest African coastline.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Biden’s rhetorical fumble, the latest in a series of gaffes that his allies have chalked up to a stutter, drew mockery online from right-wing critics.
“Who’s going to run that train, SpongeBob?” conservative columnist Ian Haworth tweeted in response to video of the mistake.
“Put grandpa to bed,” added Abigail Marone, the communications director for Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).
“Bold initiative, Mr. President,” mocked former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).
At 80, Biden is already the oldest president in US history. Should he win a second term and serve a full four years, he would be 86 upon leaving office.
Polls have noted unease about Biden’s age among Americans. A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, for instance, found that only 32% of voters believe the president possesses the mental sharpness needed to be commander-in-chief.
On Wednesday night, however, Biden racked up endorsements for his re-election bid from the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, NextGen PAC, and the Sierra Club.
