This is why his own people keep cutting off his microphone.

CNN’s KAITLAN COLLINS asked Biden a follow-up question Sunday about if he had a message to North Korean leader KIM JONG-UN. “Hello,” Biden said, before pausing a bit and adding: “Period.”

While reporters were able to hear the president, clear audio and video were almost lost because the U.S. government cut off Biden’s microphone feed prematurely. Some of the mics still caught the response in a way that was usable with subtitles. But the government cutting off the audio early has been a frequent source of frustration for reporters.

Apparently, they didn’t cut it off soon enough.

President Biden on Monday said the U.S. would be willing to defend Taiwan militarily if China were to try and take it by force.

“Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?” Biden was asked at a press conference in Tokyo alongside the Japanese prime minsiter.

“Yes,” Biden responded. “That’s the commitment we made. That’s the commitment we made.

“Look, here’s the situation. We agree with the one China policy… but the idea that to be taken by force, just taken by force, is just not appropriate,” Biden continued. “It will dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine.”

I don’t necessarily object to the content of the answer so much as the fact that this is the latest in a series of back and forths on Taiwan.

A senior Biden administration official said on Thursday (Aug 19) that US policy on Taiwan had not changed after President Joe Biden appeared to suggest that the United States would defend the island if it were attacked, a deviation from a long-held US position of strategic ambiguity…

They are…entities we’ve made agreements with based on not a civil war they’re having on that island or in South Korea, but on an agreement where they have a unity government that, in fact, is trying to keep bad guys from doing bad things to them, Mr Biden said.

We have made (and) kept every commitment. We made a sacred commitment to Article 5 that if, in fact, anyone were to invade or take action against our Nato allies, we would respond. Same with Japan, same with South Korea, same with Taiwan. It’s not even comparable to talk about that.

A senior Biden administration official said US policy with regard to Taiwan has not changed and analysts said it appeared that Mr Biden had misspoken.

Article 5 obviously does not apply to Taiwan.

Biden asserting that the United States would fight in defense of Taiwan is a pretty aggressive position. If you take that kind of position, you have to be willing to back it up. Putting all that credibility on the line and then having a staffer pull it back again makes it obvious that Biden is not mentally functioning and that American military deterrence has no credibility.