Joe Biden fumbles his way through NATO meeting & Presser 07:59

Well, Joe Biden, does the president need any more proof? A little bit of self-awareness that he just can't go on.

Now, if you missed the latest gaffe, could be his worst. Could be his worst. So President Biden, he's hosting the NATO summit there in Washington, D.C. All the bigwigs are there, all the big power players from the NATO countries and their allies. So he stands up, President Biden, and he goes to introduce Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine who has as much courage as he has determination. Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin. President Putin. He's going to beat President Putin. President Zelensky. I'm so focused on beating Putin, we've got to worry about it. Anyway. I'm getting second-hand embarrassment on Mr Biden's behalf. It's a shocker.

I played this to Vonnie this morning. I was like, oh, have you heard Biden's latest misstep? And I played it and Vonnie just sort of went over into the fetal position and put her hands on her ears. It's that uncomfortable, isn't it?

So there was that gaffe. It's a shocker calling Vladimir Zelensky President Putin. And then there's this one. In a press conference, seemingly mixing up Vice President Harris with his nemesis Donald Trump. What concerns do you have about Vice President Harris's ability to beat Donald Trump if she were at the top of the ticket? Look, I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be Vice President, but I think she's not qualified to be President. So let's start there. Number one.

The fact is that the consideration is that I think I'm the most qualified person to run for president. I beat him once and I will beat him again. Look, Donald Trump, he took to social media, he mocked Mr. Biden pretty quickly and he said this, crooked Joe begins his big boy press conference with, I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president, though I think she was not qualified to be president.

And then Trump goes on to say, great job, Joe. Facetiously, I think it's safe to say. Political scientist Simon Jackman from the University of Sydney is on the line for us. Simon, it's hard to stomach, isn't it?

Oh, it's tough. I've met Joe Biden twice. He was in Australia in 2016. And let's just say the last eight years have not been kind to him. You've got the human part of this as well. Because, you know, I've met the bloke. But then you've also got sort of just understanding what this means for...

Well, the United States, and as you said in the tea up there, the putative leader of the free world is what we're talking about here. And the thing here, I suppose, effectively, the Putin one's a bad one, but the second one, the Vice President Trump thing, you know, in a normal environment and in a normal atmosphere, that would just be forgotten about and not spoken about. But every single gaffe at the moment is almost being shone a spotlight on to prove his infirmity.

This is exactly where we're at, right? It's through the looking glass. Now, ordinarily, you and I probably make a gap like that maybe once or twice a day and we quickly catch it and move on, right? No problem. But the problem is the dogs are loose, right? We saw that first debate.

everything. It is an hour by hour sort of watch on gaffes from Biden. And by the way, he has long been a gaffe-prone public speaker his entire life. It's just gotten a lot worse over the last four years, the last eight years. And right now,

Everything he says is being viewed through this prism of just simply being too enfeebled, too old for another four years as president and too old and too feeble to take on Donald Trump in the general election. Will he remove himself from the race? What's your gut feeling here?

I don't think he will. And this is the issue for the United States, for the Democrats at the moment. I'm talking to you right now. I'm in Canberra today. I'm in Parliament House right now where this building knows a thing or two about getting rid of a leader. It's a standard part of the Westminster playbook. There's a challenge. We know what a challenge to a prime minister or to a leader of a party looks like in this system. They don't know how to do it.

after the primaries have taken place in the US presidential system, we're in this weird position. He's won the primaries, we're waiting for the coronation of the convention, and now we discover he may not be up to it and the polls are heading in the wrong direction. How do you remove an incumbent president from having a second crack at this stage of the process? No one knows is part of the problem. No one wants...

blood on their hands. No one wants to be the assassin, although everybody privately agrees something's got to happen. They just don't know how to move forward from here. They're hoping Biden will do it himself. I don't think that's likely. So there is no mechanism for the Democrats. Is that right? None?

There is no formal mechanism. It's going to be a wild card. If it comes to this, if push does come to shove, if we're talking shove, the shove will be at the convention where they do the formal roll call of the states, where each delegation from each of the states says who's the nominee, and someone will have to say who's

Blow it up. Move to suspend the program. Move to suspend the rules. I want to put a different name in nomination. Someone's going to have to take that move and they better know who they're railing behind as well. Someone's going to have to have done the numbers, as we say, in the Australian system ahead of time. They don't know how to do it.

that level of politics in the United States. They haven't rolled a nominee in 70, 80 years. This is unfamiliar territory for everybody in the US political system right now. That's why we're sort of in this weird limbo. And Biden, for his part, is saying, I'm not going anywhere. He takes full advantage of scripted moments where he was actually pretty good at NATO when he was on teleprompter. So he's saying, I'm not going anywhere. Look at me getting on the job of being president. Meanwhile, Democrats...

persuaded he can't win, are stuck trying to figure out how to dislodge him, how to gelignite an incumbent president out of the seat. Is there anybody, anybody waiting in the wings that could possibly at the convention say, all right, ladies and gentlemen, all the states, all the delegations from the Democrat Party across the United States of America, here we are. I'm the guy. Joe's out.

I think that has to be sorted out ahead of time because you don't want a free-for-all. So who is that person?

I think it's most likely the cleanest way to do it would be Kamala Harris. Although think of her position, right? She can't exactly put herself forward publicly, right? To be seen to be disloyal to her president. That's a tricky one for her. I would, if it were me, if I could, if you could play God here, I really like Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan.

A 52-year-old, 53-year-old woman who has successfully headed off Republican challenges in her own state. It's a swing state. It's a complete flip-the-card table move, putting her in there. You get the aged back on your side if you're the Democrats. You've got a vibrant, dynamic, articulate woman. You get abortion back on top of the issue agenda, which is a great issue for Democrats.

That would be how I'd do it. But the homework has to be done ahead of time. She doesn't want to be the one sticking the knife in the jaw. Someone else has got to do the dirty work. Simon Jackman, appreciate your time. Thank you so much. No worries. Thank you. Political scientist Simon Jackman from the University of Sydney. Let's just play that one more time.

Welcome, Mr. Vladimir Zelensky, the Ukrainian president. And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine who has as much courage as he has determination. Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin. Oh, it's just so, so bad. 18 to 5. Wall Street!