Biden notches gains at summit; returns to turmoil at home
MADRID — The dissonant realities of President Joe Biden’s second year in office were on display Thursday as he wound up a five-day trip to Europe that highlighted the key U.S. role in mounting a strong allied response to Vladimir Putin’s aggression and the domestic turmoil dragging Biden down at home.
Huddling with the leaders of Group of Seven advanced economies in the Bavarian Alps and with NATO allies in Madrid, Biden was greeted warmly by colleagues and notched significant policy accomplishments on modernizing the trans-Atlantic alliance to adapt to new threats from Russia and China.
At home, though, the U.S. was grappling with fallout from last week’s Supreme Court decision ending the constitutional right to abortion, which Biden condemned Thursday as “destabilizing.” Biden faces the lowest approval ratings of his presidency and rising pessimism about the direction of the country.
Biden appeared to welcome the time away from Washington as a respite from his domestic predicament, insisting that despite turmoil at home on matters from inflation to gun violence, world leaders still valued America’s — and his — leadership.
“I have not seen anyone come up to me and … say anything other than ‘Thank you for America’s leadership,’” Biden said in highspirited remarks during a news conference at the end of what he called a “historic” summit. “America is better positioned to lead the world than we ever have been.”
The three-day NATO meeting included the Biden administration announcing plans to permanently bolster the U.S. military presence in Europe, an agreement between Turkey, Finland and Sweden — championed by Biden — to pave the way for the accession of the Nordic nations into NATO, and the alliance updating its strategic concept to reflect that China’s “coercive policies” are a challenge to the Western bloc’s interests.
Biden noted that the last time NATO updated what is essentially its mission statement was 12 years ago, when Russia was characterized as a partner and the document didn’t even mention China. The new concept document fulfills a years-long effort by American presidents to reorient the alliance to address challenges from China.
“The world has changed, changed a great deal since then,” Biden said. He added: “This summit was about strengthening our alliance, meeting the challenges of our world as it is today, and the threats we’re going to face in the future.“
Biden’s efforts drew praise from across the aisle, with GOP North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who led a delegation to the Madrid summit with Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and met with Biden Thursday morning, saying, “I think that the administration has played a key part in what’s made this summit a success.”
“I think it would only be helpful for the president if he would reach out to us in our country as well as here,“she said.
At home, Biden has been burdened with the ongoing reckoning over the Capitol insurrection and former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and with his own weakened political posture.
That has stoked concern among allies about who may follow Biden into the White House and whether his successor would reverse Biden’s efforts to rebuild the trans-Atlantic alliance.