We need you in the West Wing, Dr. Freud.
For the past few days, President Biden visited Justin Trudeau, his old friend and the prime minister of Canada. The head of the land of the free visited his host nation on Friday afternoon to show appreciation for their recent decision to welcome 150,000 people from Latin America.
Nevertheless, it didn’t turn out how he had hoped, and as far as Freudian slips go, it was a significant one.
Biden told lawmakers, “Today, I thank China for stepping up. Pardon me, I salute Canada,”
Sadly, the mistake made his audience laugh in his face.
It is simple to understand how — and why — Biden would wish to thank China for whatever it was that Biden was thinking about when you take into account the Biden family’s enigmatic financial ties to the Chinese Communist Party, this administration’s bungled diplomacy toward the nation, and even White House climate adviser John Kerry’s tenacious quest to make China his bestie.
When it comes to opposing China, Trudeau doesn’t have much of a base to stand on.
Readers may recall that, at the G20 Conference last fall, CCP leader Xi Jinping practically dog-walked the Canadian leader.
In one video, a stern-faced Xi reprimanded Trudeau for their conversation’s leak to the media as he stood there awkwardly.
According to a translator, he stated, “Everything we talked about has been leaked to the papers and that’s not appropriate.”
“In Canada, we value free, frank, and open discourse, and we will keep having it,” Trudeau retorted.
“We’ll keep trying to cooperate constructively, but there will be certain topics we disagree on, so you’ll have to,” he continued, but Xi interrupted him before he could finish.
The exchange is not well captured by the text alone. You have to see it to believe it:
Biden’s verbal gaffe is the most recent in a string of embarrassing public appearances that have made the entire globe chuckle, beginning with the Saudis, continuing with the Aussies, and now including the Canadians.