As far as NATO is concerned, Biden’s made of Teflon
Despite his problems Joe Biden is still the man to beat.
And the $72 million he just reported raising, or was raised for him, is a key reason why.
It is more than the combined total of his two leading Republican opponents, Donald Trump, $35 million, and Ron DeSantis, $20 million.
And Jill Biden will be at a Provincetown fundraiser Friday to raise even more.
Unlike all the candidates running against him, including his two Democrat opponents, Robert F. Kennedy Jr and self-help author Marianne Williamson, Biden did not lift a finger to raise the cash.
It was largely raised by the Democrat National Committee, which he controls. The sum adds to the $3 million Biden had on hand.
And Biden has done this without opening a campaign headquarters, fleshing out a campaign re-election staff or holding campaign rallies.
He does not have to. Instead, Biden is using his Delaware home as his campaign headquarters and the U.S. Justice Department to go after Donald Trump, his expected opponent.
Also, he was able to use his widely covered visit to the NATO summit in Lithuania as a campaign event, one that included a cringeworthy exchange with a baby girl.
At the Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport in Finland, the 80-yearold president stopped in front of a mother who was holding her baby daughter and nibbled on the baby’s arm.
Then, Biden went to kiss the baby but ended up sniffing her hair as the baby pulled away.
There were other gaffes as well, which are routine with Biden, like confusing Iceland with Ireland, and calling Volodymyr Zelenskyy “Vladimir.”
No matter where he goes, Biden takes his bizarro world with him.
This is not to say that his NATO visit was not a success; it was. He dominated the news as only an American president travelling abroad can.
He took credit for getting Finland and now Sweden to join the other 31—member countries of NATO, even though Ukraine failed to make the cut.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said to Biden: “The way you created unity among the allies, that was great.”
Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a one-time television comic, might have been better off quoting fellow comedian Groucho Marx upon his failed attempt to join the NATO club.
Upon the subject of joining Groucho once said, “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.”
It would not have gotten the embattled Zelenskyy into NATO — that will come later — but it might have drawn a few laughs.
Zelenskyy, who earlier had chastised NATO for not granting him an immediate path to membership, also praised Biden, who promised to continue providing Ukraine with billions of dollars in military aid.
“He’s not concerned about that now,” Biden said of Zelenskyy’s NATO membership attempt.
One of the interesting — if not depressing — aspects of NATO politics is the short memory span of its members.
Many former and present leaders of NATO countries now praising Biden for bringing unity to the alliance were among those who attacked Biden for his precipitous and deadly pull out of Afghanistan in 2021 which caught them by surprise.
Biden’s decision to suddenly withdraw from the country was not shared with NATO members, many of which had troops on the ground as part of the war on terrorism.
A total of 3,612 soldiers, 2,461 of whom were Americans, lost their lives in combat during that long war.
The botched unilateral U.S. withdrawal, after 20 years of fighting, also cost the lives of 13 U.S. service personnel at the Kabul Airport during the shameless and chaotic cut and run operation.
French President Emmanuel Macron said at the time that the U.S. had become a less reliable ally and that NATO and would have to reassess its mission. Angela Merkel, German Chancellor said that Biden launched his surprise withdrawal “for domestic political reasons.”
“He will never be trusted the same way again,” the Wall Street Journal said of Joe Biden.
Life is short. Memories are even shorter.