MANDEL NGAN-AFP
All was going according to plan. President Joe Biden was projecting himself as the leader of the free world as he hosted a NATO summit and then, in a moment, an embarrassing slip of the tongue.
With Biden struggling to convince many Americans that he remains fit for office, NATO leaders have been offering him votes of confidence, however delicately, at least in part out of fear of another Donald Trump presidency.
Biden was closing out NATO's three-day 75th-anniversary summit in Washington, vowing forcefully, "Ukraine will prevail" against Russian President Vladimir Putin and hailing the courage of Ukraine's iconic wartime leader, Voldymyr Zelensky.
Turning to Zelensky in his war fatigues, Biden said, "Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin."
Biden quickly corrected himself and Zelensky, a former comedian, promptly made light of the blunder, saying, "I am better than Putin."
Biden, under intense scrutiny over his mental fitness to serve, mistakenly referred to his Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday as "Vice President Trump."
Asked whether Harris could beat Donald Trump if he decided not to run again, said: "I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if I did not think she was not qualified to be president."
But the momentary lapse quickly revived memories of his debate two weeks earlier against Trump, he had failed in his own task, to reassure the public he still had his wits.
That possibility now looms large after actor George Clooney and other wealthy donors urged the US president to withdraw from the White House race.
"I love Joe Biden. But we need a new nominee," Clooney wrote in a column in the New York Times on Wednesday, after Biden's disastrous performance in a televised presidential debate against Republican rival Donald Trump rekindled fears around the 81-year-old's fitness for office.
The statement dealt a serious blow to Biden, just three weeks after Clooney headlined a major fundraiser in Los Angeles for his reelection campaign.
At the gala, the president raised more than $30 million in one evening, a record amount that showcased the industry's might in financing the American left.
"If all these big donors pull out, he's sunk," said Steve Ross, professor of history at the University of Southern California who wrote a book on the influence of Hollywood on American politics. "Hollywood is still the one shop stop for candidates."
Clooney is not the only one worried.
Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, Walt Disney's granddaughter Abigail and Hollywood mega agent Ari Emanuel, whose brother Rahm served as Barack Obama's chief of staff -- said they would not be financing Biden citing concerns over his age.
