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Another misstep on the world stage found outgoing President Joe Biden making a spectacle of a photo-op with fellow leaders, worsened by his awkward placement.

Weak excuses for the lame-duck president were pronounced Saturday as the octogenarian commander-in-chief joined peers in Lima, Peru for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. It was there that Biden’s tardiness for the group photo became more pronounced by his being relegated to a back corner.

While leaders mingled about their place markers, their readiness for the picture found them waiting for several minutes before Biden shuffled into his spot between Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Vietnamese President Lương Cường.

The Republican National Committee shared the din leading up to the awkward arrival and commented, “Biden made other world leaders wait for more than five minutes to take the group photo at the APEC Summit in Peru — then stuck him in the back corner when he finally showed up. [Chinese President] Xi Jinping was front and center.”

With others in the front row including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, it was readily apparent that the leaders were arranged alphabetically save for the host nation Peru’s President Dina Boluarte who stood beside Xi.

The case was made by some that President-elect Donald Trump would not stand for being cast off to suit the alphabetical arrangement and in fact, multiple group photos from the 2017 APEC summit in Vietnam showed him standing beside Russian President Vladimir Putin in places of prominence.

In one image, though not in the front, Trump is clearly in the center and standing above other members, separate from an alphabetical constraint displayed by others. Similarly, another group shot from the event found the then-president in the front.

Those willing to forgive the arrangement of the leaders were not so quick to forgive Biden’s tardiness or the fact that his expressions and interactions with peers gave the all too familiar impression that “He has no idea where he is.”

A similar interaction occurred at the 2023 APEC summit in San Francisco, California when the president appeared “confused” both at his arrival beside other leaders and when it came time to depart the stage.

Biden and Xi held a meeting Saturday where it was said the president “underscored that U.S. investment in sources of strength at home and alignment with partners and allies around the world have been central to his Administration’s foreign policy approach,” and that, despite his tenure coming to a close in weeks with the second inauguration of Trump, “He welcomed efforts to maintain open channels of communication with the [People’s Republic of China] to manage competition responsibly and prevent it from veering into conflict and confrontation.”

Kevin Haggerty
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