Semafor Signals
‘Lapses happen:’ European leaders back Biden after uneven NATO performance
Insights from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Financial Times, and The Telegraph
The News
Several European leaders defended US President Joe Biden at this week’s NATO summit, as questions about Biden’s political future, as well as a series of gaffes at the gathering, threatened to overshadow the alliance’s intended message of unity and strength.
“Biden has had a strong presence in all the discussions and set the agenda with his comments,” Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told Semafor on the sidelines of the summit on Thursday.
French President Emmanuel Macron told Semafor that he had spoken with Biden “at length” during a White House dinner and “saw as always a president who is in charge, clear on the issues he knows well.” Responding to Biden mistakenly introducing Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin,” Macron said, “lapses happen to everyone,” and “that could happen to me tomorrow.”
In a PBS interview taped before Biden’s solo press conference where he referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as Vice President Trump, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it would be a “big mistake” to underestimate Biden, while UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Biden was “on really good form” and “mentally agile” during their first meeting.
SIGNALS
European media offers damning verdicts on Biden’s performance
Unlike European leaders’ support for Biden, the foreign press gathered in Washington offered a damning verdict of his performance at the summit. “Biden looks finished,” the UK’s Telegraph wrote, while Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung called Biden’s solo press conference on Thursday a “humiliation.” Biden’s performance “could soothe some fears,” The Washington Post argued, adding that “the cleared bar was low.” The Guardian’s Andrew Roth observed that there was a “massive gulf of opinion between media who watch Biden a lot and think he managed well tonight and those who don’t and thought it was quite a flawed performance.”
NATO members quietly reach out to Trump advisers
European leaders and senior officials conducted a quiet outreach campaign to former Donald Trump associates such as Richard Grenell and Keith Kellogg, who are expected to play key roles in a future Republican administration. European officials are determined to have a better understanding of Trump’s priorities this time compared with 2016, when many were blindsided by his victory. One told Politico shortly after meeting with former Trump staffers that a second term “won’t be that bad” and “NATO will survive.”
Biden’s performance did not quell Democrats’ concerns
Biden’s press conference at the NATO summit was a “Rorschach test” for Democrats, a House aide told Semafor; Biden’s supporters highlighted his nuanced answers on foreign policy, while detractors focused on his gaffes and occasionally rambling answers. Jim Hines, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called on Biden to drop out within minutes of the press conference, while other representatives subsequently joined the rebellion against his nomination. Republicans, meanwhile, have been gleeful about the Democratic chaos: “It has been glorious to watch. Finally, the shoe is on the other foot,” Rep. Nancy Mace said.
