President Biden is drowning in the oceans of the world.
The 80-year-old commander-in-chief got the geography incorrect for the second time in six days Wednesday night, speaking at the annual League of Conservation voters’ dinner in Washington, DC.
“We now have plans to construct a railroad from the Pacific through the Indian Ocean,” declared the president.
“We now have plans to construct one among the largest solar energy plants in the world in Angola,” Biden added before joining in. “I can go on, but no. I’m going beyond the script. I will get in trouble.”
Biden is a known rail enthusiast, but constructing a railroad “through” the world’s third-largest ocean has never been on the agenda.
Biden made a similar blunder last week during a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
“We’re talking about construction – and my team has also gathered with other countries – to construct a railroad from the Pacific Ocean – from the Atlantic Ocean all the option to the Indian Ocean,” he said at the time, clumsily describing a proposal to construct a railroad through 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 greater than a thousand miles from the nearest coast of Africa.
The White House didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Biden’s rhetorical trivia, the latest in a series of gaffes that his allies dismissed as stuttering, drew ridicule online from right-wing critics.
“Who will drive this train, SpongeBob?” Conservative columnist Ian Haworth tweeted in response to a video showing the mistake.
“Put Grandpa to bed,” added Abigail Marone, Director of Communications for Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).
“Daring initiative, Mr. President,” he mocked former Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).
At 80, Biden is already the oldest president in US history. Had he won a second term and served the full 4 years, he would have been 86 when he left office.
Polls have shown concern amongst Americans about Biden’s age. For instance, a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found that only 32% of voters believed the president possessed the mental acumen needed to be commander-in-chief.
Nonetheless, on Wednesday night, Biden rallied support for his re-election bid from the Conservation League Voter Motion Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council Equity Fund, PAC NextGen and the Sierra Club.