Biden Needs to Go for NATO’s Sake Too
Even as he hosts NATO allies next week, the frail US president can’t dispel the existential doubt he has sown about the alliance.
Give up this seat, Joe.
Photographer: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
President Joe Biden is one week away from hosting the other 31 NATO allies in Washington for what was originally billed as a triumphant pageant to celebrate 75 years of the most successful defensive pact in history. Instead, both Biden’s team and America’s allies are reeling from his debate disaster one week earlier and wondering what it means for NATO and world peace.
That televised ordeal reminded friend and foe alike that the incumbent president is six years older than NATO but with none of its vigor or coherence. It also showed yet again that the alternative leader is even worse. Not only is Donald Trump also older than NATO; he disdains the alliance as much as ever and is likely to gut its deterrence by dangling a giant question mark over the American commitment to mutual defense with all means, up to and including nukes.