Biden kicked off the summit Tuesday night by welcoming more than 30 leaders who had gathered in Washington at the same time Democrats returned to Capitol Hill to debate whether he should remain the party’s presidential nominee.
Foreign leaders are closely watching Mr. Biden and the Democratic debate unfold, and Mr. Biden’s shaky performance on June 27 raised concerns among allies that a second term for Mr. Trump is looking increasingly likely — an outcome most European leaders fear.
Biden’s biggest test will come on Thursday, when he is scheduled to hold a rare news conference that Democrats say is crucial to prove he has the energy and mental agility to take on Trump. European leaders will also be closely watching the president’s news conference to try to gauge whether Biden performed poorly in the debate, as he claims, or whether it’s a sign of bigger problems that could make defeating Trump even harder.
“The summit will be an opportunity for the president to demonstrate strong international leadership in contrast to Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine NATO,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). “Throughout the summit, the president will have an opportunity to showcase his leadership and foreign policy track record, and the press conference will give him an opportunity to address any concerns he may have.”
Biden said defiantly. Democrats are worried Trump has made it clear he has no plans to drop out of the presidential race and told Democrats to focus on taking on Trump and not on their own debate performances.
Those efforts appear to have been effective, at least for now, in quelling opposition on Capitol Hill. But a gaffe by Biden at his news conference on Thursday could change all that, several Democrats said.
Biden is scheduled to take part in the working session on Wednesday before hosting NATO leaders and their spouses for dinner at the White House with first lady Jill Biden. Before heading to the NATO summit, Biden will stop by to meet with AFL-CIO leaders and later the same day hold his first bilateral meeting with Britain’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Biden’s demeanor and mental agility are likely to come under intense scrutiny at NATO meetings and dinners. At the G7 summit in Italy last month, European leaders were stunned by his behavior. How old are you? The president said it appeared their last contact was only a year ago, or in some cases just a few months ago, according to officials with knowledge of their reactions.
Aides said they noticed Biden seemed more tired and weaker, his train of thought faltering but quickly getting back on track, and the overall impression was that he believed he could do the job at this point but questioned whether he could serve another four years in office.
Biden sought to calm those concerns in a speech welcoming NATO leaders to Washington on Tuesday. He spoke glowingly about NATO’s new strength, highlighting the addition of Finland and Sweden and the growing number of countries spending more than 2% of their GDP on defense, and implicitly rebuked Trump. Biden has threatened to welcome NATO leaders to Washington. Breaking the alliance And Russia “Whatever they want.” To NATO member states that are not spending enough.
Biden did not mention Trump by name, but stressed that a bipartisan majority of Americans support the alliance and spoke of the dangers of a world without it.
“It’s good that we’re stronger than ever, because this moment in history calls for our united strength,” Biden said. “The American people understand what would happen without NATO, that there would be another war in Europe, that our troops would fight and die, and that dictators would spread chaos.”
