Video: Donald Trump Makes Gaffe Mixing Up Obama and Biden

Social media users, including two of his political rivals, mocked former President Donald Trump after videos circulated of him mixing up President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama during a campaign stop in New Hampshire.

Trump, the Republican frontrunner for the 2024 presidential nomination, gave a speech in Claremont, New Hampshire, on Saturday where his comments sparked criticism for appearing to be "confused" about who was currently in the White House. The Saturday gaffe comes just days after he was ridiculed online due to his remarks about North Korea in which he got the country's population size wrong, by some margin.

While Trump did correctly identify Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán, whom he previously called the "leader of Turkey," he then told the crowd of supporters that the Hungarian leader had pushed for Obama's resignation a few weeks ago.

After praising Orbán as "very powerful," Trump said, "They were interviewing him [Orbán] two weeks ago and they said, 'What would you advise President Obama? The whole world seems to be exploding and imploding?' And he said, 'It's very simple. He should immediately resign, and they should replace him with President Trump, who kept the world safe.'"

Trump Claremont Campaign Stop
Former President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a campaign event on November 11, 2023 in Claremont, New Hampshire. Video shared on social media shows Trump say during the event that former president Barack Obama is... Scott Eisen/Getty

Newsweek reached out via email on Saturday to representatives for Trump and Biden for comment.

Biden, the current president and Trump's Democratic rival, is campaigning for a second term with Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Biden-Harris campaign has been highlighting Trump's recent fumbles, which include misidentifying countries, not knowing what town he's in and mispronouncing words, and pushing for the media to cover the MAGA leader's gaffes like they do concerns about Biden's age.

The issue of age has become a frequent talking point in the 2024 presidential race, whose likely contenders are 80-year-old Biden and 77-year-old Trump.

Both Biden and Trump have faced mounting mockery over a series of gaffes in recent months.

Trump faced online scrutiny in September after branding Biden "cognitively impaired" before saying the president could lead America into "World War II."

Meanwhile, Biden was also criticized that same month after appearing to confuse the Congressional Black Caucus with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus at a gala dinner.

Shortly after Trump's mix-up in New Hampshire, the Biden-Harris campaign team quickly mocked the former president on X, formerly Twitter.

BidenHQ, a Biden-Harris 2024 campaign account, posted a clip of Trump's remarks while calling him "confused."

"A confused Trump forgets who is currently president," BidenHQ posted.

The campaign team of one of Trump's GOP rivals for the White House, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, also ridiculed the former president for the slip-up in a social media post.

DeSantisWarRoom, the X campaign account for DeSantis, mocked Trump for telling the crowd that he was "going off teleprompter" shortly before the gaffe.

"Trump announces he's 'going off teleprompter,' then says Hungarian leader Viktor Orban is calling on Barack Obama to step down as President of the United States," DeSantisWarRoom posted. "How many times has Trump forgotten who is in the White House this week?"

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

About the writer


Maura Zurick is the Newsweek Weekend Night Editor based in Cleveland, Ohio. Her focus is reporting on U.S. national news ... Read more

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