Former Vice President and current Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden accidentally referred to US President Donald Trump as “Donald Hump” while speaking at the New Hampshire Democratic Convention on Saturday.
“I cannot and will not let this man be re-elected president of the United States of America. Limit it to four years. I believe history will look back on this presidency as an aberrant moment in time,” said Biden.
“But if Donald Hump …If Donald Trump is re-elected… Freudian slip, … he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation,” Biden continued, to a murmur of laughter from the gathering.
"Freudian slip."
— The Hill (@thehill) September 8, 2019
Joe Biden accidentally calls the president "Donald Hump" during his speech at the New Hampshire Democratic Party Convention. pic.twitter.com/qqklsfDH5s
“Donald Trump poses an existential threat. To this, it’s not hypothetical hysterical, this nation,” claimed Biden.
Twitter users picked up on the verbal slip-up, with some urging the blunder-prone candidate to call it a wrap and leave the playing field:
Come on! Please let this end! Joe! Please go home and protect your lawn! There are other candidates, we got this, you’ve earned your rest.
— Cycle Forward Films (@CycleForward) September 8, 2019
Is Democratic leadership looking at this and legitimately thinking, we got this! Joe is the man! If they are we’re doomed.
— Cycle Forward Films (@CycleForward) September 8, 2019
I only have one word for Joe. Senile
— DonP (@DonP18640867) September 8, 2019
Other users seemed concerned for Biden:
It's not a slip or a gaffe. He is senile and displaying signs of dementia. He is not fit to run the country. If he wins the nomination it'll be a general of two senile folks with dementia...
— Anthony (@SmallFryInNY) September 8, 2019
Biden is not mentally fit for this. We need someone like Oprah!
— JamesL (@GJameslorenzana) September 8, 2019
Is it's slip or a sign of something deeper. He's had a lot of these things already.....
— EG (@OdinsIceGiant) September 8, 2019
Is is me or does Joe look really old lately
— Maryanne paulson (@Maryannepaulso3) September 8, 2019
While others took the opportunity to have some fun with the gaffe:
Gaffe-Man!🤪 pic.twitter.com/hjyR55VRg3
— 🎙〽️ojo💫 (@MojosRiffRaff) September 8, 2019
— Rob Nice (@RobvillaNYNY) September 8, 2019
The Democratic frontrunner, 76, is famous for being prone to verbal gaffes, and has raised eyebrows many times on the campaign trail.
Biden confused two US states while campaigning in Keene, New Hampshire. A video showed the former US Vice President extolling the “beauty” of Vermont after a journalist asked about his "impression" of the town, situated in southwestern New Hampshire, near the state's border with Vermont.
Biden also told an audience of Asian and Hispanic voters that “poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids," and misstated the decade in which Martin Luther King and the Kennedy brothers were killed.
Despite his virulent missteps leaving a steady trace of ripples on social media, Joe Biden holds a strong lead nationally over the rest of the Democratic primary field in most polls.
