US President Joe Biden mistakenly read aloud the instructions written on a teleprompter during his speech at a trade union conference in Washington on Wednesday.

“I see an America where we defend democracy, not diminish it. I see an America where we protect freedoms, not take them away,” Biden said.

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“Imagine what we could do next? Four more years, pause,” he added.

In what seemed to be an effort to cover up the president’s embarrassing slip up, members of the North America’s Building Trades Union (NABTU) quickly stepped in and began chanting “four more years.”

Opinion polls in November 2023 showed that the majority of American voters are concerned over Biden’s age and his fitness for office as the current president seeks to be reelected.

If reelected, Biden would be 86 by the end of his second term in office. Republican Ronald Reagan, who had the prior record as oldest US president, ended his second four-year term at age 77 in 1989.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to challenge Biden in the 2024 election, is 77.

The 81-year-old misspoke a few times in the past, the most recent of which occurred on Tuesday when he mistakenly said he and his party “can’t be trusted” while speaking at a Florida campaign rally.

“I don’t know why we are surprised by Trump. How many times does he have to prove we can’t be trusted?” Biden said.

In another awkward gaffe in March, the president said “we have the lowest inflation rates of any country in America” while discussing his administration’s efforts to tackle inflation in the US.

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