Slips of the tongue, corrections and poor voting – the US President has long been known for verbal slips. In times of the Ukraine war, this becomes a security risk.
Politically, Joe Biden can actually count himself lucky. The scale of the brutality of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine unites even the notorious front between Republicans and Democrats in the United States.
A few days ago, even the well-known Republican Biden opponent Kevin McCarthy joined the president. Congressman Madison Cawthorn, who is loyal to Trump, had described the Ukrainian president as a “rogue” – an attitude that quite a few Republicans are spreading in the USA for party tactical reasons.
“Madison is wrong,” McCarthy said. “If there’s a villain in this world, it’s Putin.” Putin’s brutality towards the Ukrainian people was “horrific”. All of this is “wrong”. Putin is the aggressor. “He’s the one who needs to end this war. He’s the one everyone should unite against.”
But the US President does not use this political opportunity. On the contrary. Although he has managed to unite the western alliance in a remarkable way for weeks, Joe Biden has repeatedly torpedoed his own success. The reason is his unpredictable and confusing communication, for which the US President is not only known since he took office.
It’s a weakness that runs throughout his political career. In the current situation, however, it becomes a real security risk.
A small invasion?
It all started shortly before the war in Ukraine broke out. At a press conference in Washington, Joe Biden said that the US reaction to a Russian attack could vary in strength. Namely, if it would only come to a “minor incursion”, a “small invasion”.
The Press Department of the White House and his Secretary of State Antony Blinken then tried, wringing their hands, to maintain the communicative pressure on Moscow.
To this day, even experts are puzzled as to what exactly Biden meant by such a “small invasion” by the Russians in Ukraine. And whether the US President could possibly have signaled to Russian President Vladimir Putin with this trivializing statement: Take it easy. We keep our feet still.
Regime change or moral outrage
Ironically, during his speech in Warsaw last weekend, which was announced as historic, the US President presumably spontaneously deviated from the meticulously prepared speech manuscript.
Biden said, “In the name of God. This man cannot remain in power.” A US President openly calling for the overthrow of the Russian President, the leader of a nuclear power, was the reading that went viral.
Again, the press department of the White House frantically intervened a few minutes later and came up with the remarkable interpretation: The president meant that Putin should no longer exercise power over states in the immediate vicinity. As expected, this did not reassure the public, but even caused high-level political distancing from the NATO alliance itself.
French President Emmanuel Macron, for example, opposed Biden’s statement that Putin was a “butcher”. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on the talk show “Anne Will” that NATO is not aiming for regime change. Although US Secretary of State Antony Blinken once again tried to clarify the statements made by his own President: On Monday, the White House felt compelled to have the US President explain the whole thing again himself.
Biden emphasized that he had not called for a regime change. However, he did not really distance himself from his statements. “I have expressed moral outrage that I feel, and I do not apologize for that,” Biden said. Whatever one may think of the President’s statements, the growing problem is that his own staff seem compelled to work against him.
US troops in Ukraine?
The constant back and forth reached another peak these days. When Joe Biden visited the troops stationed in Poland, he spoke about the courage of the Ukrainians, which is inspiring. Then, addressing the US soldiers, he said, “You’ll see when you get there.” This immediately led to speculation that the USA or NATO would soon intervene directly in Ukraine. Again, Biden had to deny that he meant it.
Always make it clear: Joe Biden’s statements lead to misunderstandings. (Source: imago images)
“We talked about helping train Ukrainian troops in Poland,” said the US President. The mere fact that the US is supposed to be training Ukrainian troops in Poland to shoot at Russian soldiers is real news, at least officially. A few days ago, Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, denied that the US was currently training Ukrainian troops. Meanwhile, it has not been confirmed anywhere that Ukrainian soldiers are supposed to be in Poland for such US-led training purposes.
The US President’s ambiguous language remains, and it is becoming a problem for Washington. Especially since the USA regularly emphasizes that it does not want to become part of the war. That they don’t want to deliver planes and tanks because, according to intelligence reports, Putin could otherwise interpret this as a declaration of war or at least interference. Which in the worst case could lead to a nuclear escalation.
The US knows that every utterance, every twitch, by Joe Biden is being watched with seismographic precision in the Kremlin. The nervousness can therefore be felt everywhere in Washington. When is Biden’s next thoughtless comment?
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