Secretary of State Marco Rubio tried to downplay President Donald Trump repeatedly saying Iceland instead of Greenland on the world stage as “verbal stumbles.”
The top U.S. diplomat even appeared to suggest that the president’s mix-up was no different from the gaffes made by President Joe Biden.
But comparing Trump’s stumbles to his predecessor’s was a questionable tactic after Trump, 79, and his Republican allies have repeatedly attacked the former president, 83, for cognitive decline.
Rubio made the comparison when confronted during a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday.
Democratic Senator Tim Kaine raised the president mixing up Greenland and Iceland during his turn to question Rubio.
“For the last few days until I told them about Iceland, they loved me. They’re not here for us on Iceland, that I can tell you. Our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland, so Iceland has already cost us a lot of money,” Trump said at Davos last week while talking about NATO.
It came while Trump was ramping up his push to take over Greenland, the separate semi-autonomous territory, not the European island country.
“The president repeatedly mistook Iceland for Greenland, right? We’re not mad at Iceland. They haven’t cost us any money. The president just mistook the two countries for each other, correct?” Kaine asked.
“Yeah, he meant to say Greenland, but I think we’re all familiar with presidents who have verbal stumbles,” Rubio quickly shot back. “We’ve had presidents like that before. Some made a lot more than this one.”
“Nice try,” Kaine responded.
Last week’s appearance at Davos was not the first time Trump has said Iceland rather than Greenland while talking about the territory.
When a reporter pointed out last week that the president appeared to mix up the two during his address, Trump’s press secretary quickly fired back on X.
“No he didn’t, Libby. His written remarks referred to Greenland as a ‘piece of ice’ because that’s what it is,” Karoline Leavitt claimed. “You’re the only one mixing anything up here.”
Trump, as the oldest president ever elected, has faced a series of questions about his health since returning to office. He has repeatedly disparaged Biden and touted taking cognitive tests while constantly making his own series of gaffes.
While the president was still in Switzerland last week, he dramatically backed off his demand to take over Greenland.
First, he ruled out military force before declaring a “framework deal” had been reached that would satisfy him and backed off tariff threats unless the U.S. could purchase Greenland.
Exactly what that deal would include remains unclear, as Greenland has long completely ruled out a sale and officials said they were not brought in on the deal Trump said was reached with the NATO secretary general.
Rubio told the Senate on Wednesday, “There will be some technical level meetings between our partners in Greenland and Denmark and us on this issue.”
He claimed the president’s interest in Greenland has been clear, noting it’s a national security issue.
“I think we have in place a process that’s going to bring us to a good outcome for everybody,” Rubio said. “I think we’re going to get something positive done. We’re going to begin that process in a very professional, straightforward way.”
He said the process would begin on Wednesday and continue.
The post Rubio Says Trump, 79, Has ‘Verbal Stumbles’ Just Like Biden appeared first on The Daily Beast.
