On the menu today: It’s not just a problem for Americans if the president is mumbling, stumbling, and bumbling like Mr. Magoo, refusing to let go of duties he can no longer reliably perform. It’s a problem for the world, particularly the free world and NATO.
Biden’s Infirmities Loom over NATO Summit
A recurring argument in this newsletter and in my other writings and appearances is that while President Joe Biden says a lot of the right things regarding support for Ukraine, he doesn’t follow through with action — particularly not quick, decisive action. (That pattern continues in Biden’s other foreign-policy crises.)
When push comes to shove, Biden is indecisive, hesitant, and terrified of taking any action that could be interpreted as an “escalation” or not “proportional.” He doesn’t meet the moment. In fact, in “the moment,” he often disappears — he made no public appearances for four days during the Afghanistan-withdrawal debacle, and he only appeared before the cameras for three minutes during the first three days after the Hamas attacks on October 7.
Just a month ago, I wrote, “In a headline that sounds like something from the Babylon Bee, the Washington Post informs us that ‘Biden team hails ‘lightning speed’ call on strikes in Russia. Meanwhile, Kharkiv burned.’ The Biden team’s idea of ‘lightning speed’ to make a life-and-death decision is 17 days.”
It is now abundantly clear that an 81-and-a-half-year-old Biden is much slower, much less intellectually engaged, and perhaps not even involved in certain White House decisions.
Yes, Joe Biden is still our commander in chief, legally and constitutionally, but he doesn’t seem to be in command of himself, much less the rest of the executive branch.
This week, NATO holds a summit in the nation’s capital, and it’s the latest excuse for why Biden didn’t making any appearances in front of the cameras Monday, although he did call in to MSNBC’s Morning Joe and made a private conference call to donors, declaring, “We can’t waste any more time being distracted” about worries about his health and age.
No doubt, Biden’s appearances at the summit will indeed require some preparation, but you’d think this would be something that Biden would be up to speed on, as he’s hosted and attended dozens of these conferences.
There just isn’t any easy way to substitute another Western leader for the U.S. president when it comes to the leadership of NATO, or the free world. The United Kingdom just elected a new parliament and with it a new prime minister, Keir Starmer. (The U.K. has had four prime ministers since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.) France’s Emmanuel Macron is in deep trouble. Germany is . . . not quite the full-scale reliable ally that the Biden administration wants to believe that it is.
The good news is, in the 2023 numbers, the number of NATO members spending 2 percent of their GDP on defense is up significantly. The bad news is that France is at 1.9 percent, Germany is at 1.6 percent, Italy is at 1.5 percent, Canada is still at 1.4 percent, and Spain is at 1.3 percent.
If the U.S. president isn’t an energetic, forceful, and compelling leader of the alliance, it’s really hard for any other figure to pick up the slack.
Biden’s doddering condition is overshadowing and permeating coverage of the NATO conference.
Every step Biden takes, every gesture he makes, and every word he utters will be under intense scrutiny, especially in unscripted moments after the image of an aged and at times incoherent commander in chief was burned into the minds of 50 million viewers at the CNN debate in Atlanta late last month.
A president who is older than the alliance itself will be under enormous pressure to show vigor and mental clarity at a solo news conference on Thursday. Any hint of confusion or weakness could spark a fresh round of panic among Democrats and derail Biden’s aggressive effort to quell talk of him abandoning his campaign. The president can expect a volley of questions about his health, his medical records and whether he has been hiding the true details of his condition from journalists infuriated by the White House’s handling of the debate fallout.
The press conference will also be a must-see event for Democrats who are demanding he do far more to prove he is fit to serve a second term that would end when he is 86. Sen. Patty Murray, for instance, warned Monday evening, “We need to see a much more forceful and energetic candidate on the campaign trail in the very near future in order for him to convince voters he is up to the job.”
David E. Sanger and Lara Jakes, writing in the New York Times:
As they gather on Tuesday evening, the leaders will be watching Mr. Biden’s every move and listening to his every word for the same signals Americans are focused on — whether he can go the distance of another four years in office. . . .
As they arrived, NATO leaders acknowledged that the alliance was facing a test they did not anticipate: whether it could credibly maintain the momentum it has built in supporting Ukraine when confidence in its most important player has never been more fragile.
And they know that Mr. Putin and Xi Jinping, China’s leader, are watching as well.
Anthony Zurcher, writing for the BBC:
“Biden is entering this week diminished,” said Kristine Berzina, managing director of the German Marshall Fund Geostrategy North.
“We don’t know how he’s going to exit it.”
It is understood that many European leaders are anxious about Trump and his foreign policy strategy. The former president has disparaged multilateral international alliances.
Ms Berzina said that in the past two weeks, however, these leaders have been experiencing something new – Biden anxiety.
After his halting debate performance, she says, American allies have begun doubting whether the president is up to the task.
Heading into the NATO summit, they are hoping to see some evidence that his performance that night was an aberration and not reflective of a new normal.
“It is worrisome to have a close ally, your most meaningful ally, falter,” said Ms Berzina.
“So I think there is tremendous hope that Biden passes the test. But if he isn’t able to deliver, it creates more questions about the US’s reliability.”
As for our non-NATO friends, Michael Brendan Dougherty describes how Biden’s decline is being covered over in Ireland:
Partly, being foreigners, they are at a remove from the consequences of the American election, and their politics, egos, and past statements are not as implicated in the outcome. Partly, being Irish, the contrast is more obvious. The man they saw on Thursday was not like the American president who visited their nation a year ago. And so the most natural response was the most obvious one: Joe Biden should not be in this position.
We can argue about whether American reporters for major mainstream-media institutions were fooled or were complicit in downplaying or obscuring the consequences of Biden’s advanced age. But either way, they’re angry that Biden went out on that debate stage and made his supporters look like fools.
Biden can expect much more skeptical coverage for the rest of his days, and the Bidens are not used to the press not helping them out. Yesterday, a reporter shouted at Jill Biden as she left a coffee shop in Tampa, Fla., “Dr. Biden, do you have any message to House Democrats who are calling for your husband to drop out of the race? How are you feeling about the state of the race?”
The First Lady responded, “Why are you screaming at me? You know me. Don’t scream at me, just let me talk.” And then she got into her limo without answering any questions.
Biden Is Still Describing an Alternate World Where He’s Popular
President Biden, appearing on Morning Joe yesterday:
I’ve gone over the country for several reasons. One, to make sure my instinct was right about the party still wanting me to be the nominee. And all the data, all the data shows that the average Democrat out there who voted, 14 million of them that have voted for me, still want to be the nominee.
Totally false, totally wrong. The post-debate Morning Consult survey found that “a 47 percent plurality of Democrats say Biden should be replaced as the Democratic candidate for president.” A CNN poll released July 2 found, “Most Democrats and Democratic-leaning registered voters (56 percent) say the party has a better shot at the presidency with someone other than Biden, while 43 percent say the party stands a better chance with him.”
A poll released July 3, conducted by Florida Atlantic University’s Political Communication and Public Opinion Research Lab, found, “A split within the Democratic party regarding U.S. President Joe Biden’s candidacy, with 40 percent supporting Biden as the nominee and 45 percent thinking he should be replaced with another Democrat.”
The USA Today/Suffolk poll indicated, “41 percent [of Democrats] said the Democratic Party should replace Biden as its presidential nominee.”
I get Ramesh’s argument that Biden has always been prone to bluster, exaggeration, untrue tales, etc. But I think either A) the people around Biden keep painting a false picture of how well he’s doing — “Joe, you did such a great job, you answered every question, you knew all the facts”– or B) Biden no longer accurately perceives things, or remembers bad news he doesn’t want to hear.
Remember, according to Politico, Biden’s senior officials “curate the information being presented [to Biden] in an effort to avoid provoking a negative reaction.”
ADDENDUM: Thanks to Michael for his kind review of Dueling Six Demons:
I have enjoyed all of Jim’s novels in this Dangerous Clique series! They caused me to be optimistic that there are teams of principled and patriotic intelligence agents in this country who are really making a difference for the cause of peace and stability in the world.
Not to put a spoiler out there, but based on the last chapter of the novel, I am wondering if the title of the next book in the series will have to have the number eight! Could be seven, but my Counting may be off!
My current plan had been seven, but I understand why Michael thought eight. And if that seems cryptic . . . well, I guess you’ll have to read the book!