Biden needed to reassure America after disastrous debate. But a string of gaffes have marred his fightback

Joe Biden delivered his much anticipated “big boy press conference” on the sidelines of the Nato summit on Thursday night, marking his latest attempt to put mounting fears about his fitness to serve another term to rest.

In Thursday night’s high-stakes briefing, the president spoke to reporters for just under an hour, answering 19 questions from 10 journalists, and once again insisting that he is the best person to take on Donald Trump in November.

“I think I’m the most qualified person to run for president. I beat him once and I will beat him again,” he said.

“There’s a long way to go this campaign and so I – I’m just gonna keep moving.”

The press conference comes at the end of a crucial two weeks for the 81-year-old president to reassure American voters, donors and House and Senate Democrats that he should remain in the 2024 presidential race, following his abysmal performance in the first presidential debate last month.

Biden has sought to counter that night’s performance – where he stumbled over his words, appeared frail and lost his train of thought – with a string of public appearances and high-stakes interviews.

But, rather than prove the debate was a one-off, the president has simply added to his list of gaffes.

Here’s a look at Biden’s latest gaffes since the disastrous debate:

The president has a long and occasionally glorious history of blunders in his public statements, cheerily describing himself as a “gaffe machine” in the past.

During Thursday’s press conference at the Nato conference, he managed to confuse his own deputy, Vice President Kamala Harris, with Trump.

“I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president did I think she was not qualified to be president,” he said.

It was quickly