He’s still a little awkward, and the old man’s doddering moments still make us all a little uncomfortable, but on the subject of Russia’s out-of-control aggression, President Biden last week presented himself as a strong and capable leader.
During a press conference addressing death of Russian opposition leader Alexeï Navalny, Biden has taken on every adversary: the tyrannical president in Moscow, the brazen Congress in Washington, and the troublemaking candidate who wants to oust him from the White House.
“Make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death. » Biden said on Friday: without mincing words about his contempt for the Russian leader.
“We don’t know exactly what happened. But there is no doubt that Navalny’s death is a consequence of the actions of Putin and his henchmen.”
After months of “Saturday Night Live” sketches, late night monologue jokes and a scathing report from the Department of Justice Regarding the president’s reported memory loss, Biden appeared upset.
He criticized Putin for silencing his opposition, he lambasted lawmakers for taking a break without voting on an aid package for Ukraine, and he criticized former President Donald Trump for threatening to take on Russia against delinquent members of NATO.
AFP_OW6JB
EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images As president, Donald Trump delivered a speech alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
“We should all reject the dangerous statements made by the previous president, who called on Russia to invade our NATO allies if they don’t ‘pay up.’ He said if an ally didn’t pay its debt, he would encourage Russia to, quote, “do what it wants,” Biden said.
“This is a scandalous thing for a president to do. I can’t understand, I can’t understand – since Truman, they’ve all been rolling in their graves hearing this. As long as I am President, America will remain true to its sacred commitment to its NATO allies, as they have repeatedly done.”
Biden followed these remarks with a timely campaign attack announcement calling Trump’s NATO comments “traitorous.”
Biden still has his good days, and this was clearly one of them.
And it is questionable whether or not there will be enough to sustain the country over the next four years.
But that, as is usually the case, is less about what Biden left in the tank and more about the match Trump would light underneath.
Again.
We’ve seen this series before and we didn’t like the ending the first time.
Only this time, Trump is giving us a glimpse.
He said he would punish the people who indicted him twice.
He said he would be a dictator the first day, and the first day only.
He said he would entrust Russia to loyal NATO allies.
Why wouldn’t we believe it?
“No president has ever said anything like this,” says the narrator of Biden’s new ad. “It is shameful. It’s weak. It’s dangerous. It’s not American.
Biden has already beaten Trump once. But that doesn’t guarantee Biden will beat him again.
So Democrats are now playing the dangerous game of relying on the courts to do what they might not be able to do at the ballot box.
Don’t bet on it. The US Supreme Court appears ready to reject efforts to throw Trump off the ballot.
Dozens of lawsuits have been filed nationwide to disqualify Trump under Article 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was intended to prevent former Confederates from returning to government after the Civil War.
It prohibits from holding office anyone who took an oath to “support” the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against it.
Do January 6 ring a bell?
Trump’s lawyers say efforts to prevent him from participating in the election “threaten to disenfranchise tens of millions of American voters.”
Trump, who has nominated three justices to the Supreme Court, will likely prevail.
That would mean rematch — and the hope that Biden still has enough good days left in him.