This is the kind of stuff that makes Nancy Pelosi scared of Joe Biden debating Donald Trump.
On Thursday, Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, appeared to confuse Jacob Blake, who was shot by police while reaching into his car, and 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot rioters in what appears to be self-defense in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper had asked Biden a question about why Trump hadn’t addressed the shooting of Blake, a 29-year-old black man, which has led to violent protests and rioting.
“The president has not talked about the shooting of Mr. Blake, he’s talked about violent protests in the wake of it,” began Anderson Cooper. “I’m wondering why you think that is that he hasn’t actually addressed it. There’s obviously a lot we do not know about the circumstances around it, but the video obviously has been out there.”
“I don’t know enough to know whether that 17-year-old kid, exactly what he did, but allegedly, he’s part of a militia coming out of the state of Illinois,” Biden said, in reference to Illinois teenager Kyle Rittenhouse—not Blake.
Wow. Joe Biden mixed up Jacob Blake and Kyle Rittenhouse.
— Matt Margolis 🇺🇸 (@mattmargolis) August 28, 2020
Yet Joe Biden says he’s looking forward to debating Trump? He can’t even get the basic facts straight in his head.
Further, Anderson Cooper seemed to answer his own question as to why President Trump hasn’t addressed it when he acknowledged that despite the video being out there, “There’s obviously a lot we do not know about the circumstances around [the shooting].”
But then Biden really put his foot in his mouth, because of what he said after confusing Blake and Rittenhouse.
“I don’t know enough to know whether that 17-year-old kid exactly what he did, but allegedly he’s part of a militia coming out of the state of Illinois,” Biden said. “Have you ever heard this president say one negative thing about white supremacists? Have you ever heard it?”
Joe Biden not only confused Jacob Blake with Kyle Rittenhouse, but he then accused Rittenhouse of being a white supremacist, without any evidence.
Biden’s premise was also 100 percent false. While Joe Biden spent the early years of his career working with segregationists (who clearly fit under the umbrella of white supremacists) to oppose busing, President Trump has repeatedly denounced white supremacists.
Kyle Rittenhouse is a kid who came to Kenosha to help defend the city from violent protesters and rioters who were burning down buildings and killing people and based on video of the incident was clearly acting in self-defense.
Joe Biden began his response to Anderson Cooper by saying, “I don’t know enough to know…” He really needed to stop right there.
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Matt Margolis is the author of the new book Airborne: How The Liberal Media Weaponized The Coronavirus Against Donald Trump, and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
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