‘I am a gaffe machine’: Decrypting Joe Biden’s great American goof-ups

“I am a gaffe machine,” Joe Biden admitted in 2018. Proving again that he has a chronic habit of letting his tongue take the lead ahead of his brain, the President of the United States, on Tuesday, addressed officials impacted by Hurricane Ida and it’s safe to say he goofed it up big time. Let’s see what all he said and how much of it is fact. 

“It is all across the country, you know…it looks like a tornado, they don’t call ’em that anymore”

The POTUS claimed tornados are not called tornados anymore. Social media users were quick to question his knowledge of geography. While according to Joe Biden, those swirly winds carrying twisty clouds are not tornados, the National Severe Storms Laboratory says, “A tornado is a narrow, violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground. Because wind is invisible, it is hard to see a tornado unless it forms a condensation funnel made up of water droplets, dust and debris.”

Last we heard, they were still called tornados. 

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“crops and wetlands in the middle of the country in Iowa and Nevada”

Again, the President said that the tornado hit the crops and wetlands in the middle of the country in Iowa and Nevada, indicating he had an understanding that Nevada was smack right in the middle of the country lush with wetlands. 

While Nevada has lost close to 52% of the state’s historic wetland acreage over the years and is one of the driest states in America, it is being assumed that the POTUS was talking about the wetland-rich Nebraska which actually happens to be in the middle of the country. 

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“When President Harris and I took..a virtual tour of a vaccination site in Arizona..”

 So, this happened back in March when Joe Biden was addressing their administration’s efforts and progress in tackling the COVID-19 situation. The POTUS called Kamala Harris the President of the United States. 

Now that people were prepared for his usual gaffes, it was natural to assume that it was another one of his goof-ups. Kamala Harris is the current vice-president of the United States in the democratic administration of Joe Biden. She also happens to be the first black female vice president.