Biden calls Putin a ‘crazy son of a bitch’ at campaign fundraiser | International

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “crazy son of a bitch”. The insult was made at a fundraising event in San Francisco, during a three-day tour of California undertaken to finance his presidential re-election campaign. Biden warned that there is still a threat of nuclear conflict, but the existential threat to humanity remains the climate. “This is the ultimate existential threat. It’s the climate. “We have crazy sons of bitches like Putin and others, and we always have to worry about nuclear conflicts, but the existential threat to humanity is climate,” Biden told a small group of donors.

Previously, Biden had already insulted others with the word “son of a bitch.” In January 2022, he was caught using the same slur against a Fox News reporter who worked at the White House. Biden tends to go off-script at campaign fundraisers and in recent months has attacked the Chinese government, the Republican Party and U.S. ally Israel for its bombing of the Strip. Gaza.

In 2020, during his first campaign for the White House, Biden also publicly launched these types of messages by insulting a factory worker in the state of Michigan after accusing him of wanting to eliminate the Second Amendment from the Constitution , which recognizes the right to own firearms. Biden told the worker, “You fucking liar,” as captured in video captured by a CBS reporter.

Biden’s verbal attacks on Putin also intensified at the White House and on the campaign trail. Last week, the US president blamed Putin and “his thugs” for the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. “We don’t know exactly what happened, but there is no doubt that Nalvani’s death was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did,” Biden said at the White House after authorities Russian penitentiaries announced Navalny’s death. The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the Russian opponent’s death and said Western claims that Putin was responsible were unacceptable.

The Kremlin responded Thursday that Joe Biden’s comment about Putin belittled the United States and those who use that language, and that it was a poor attempt to sound like a “Hollywood cowboy.” “The use of such language against the head of another state by the president of the United States is unlikely to affect our president, President Putin,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “But it demeans those who use this vocabulary.” Peskov noted that the comment was “probably some kind of attempt to sound like a Hollywood cowboy” and emphasized, “But honestly, I don’t think that’s possible.” The Kremlin spokesperson asked rhetorically: “Has Mr. Putin ever used a bad word when addressing you?” This never happened. Therefore, I think this vocabulary demeans America itself.

Follow all international news on Facebook And Xor in our weekly newsletter.

Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.

Subscribe