We saw some truly dismal numbers for Joe Biden — particularly when it comes to inflation — in the new ABC/Ipsos poll. Biden only had 28 percent approval and 69 percent disapproval in terms of how he was dealing with it — just killer numbers when the economy is generally the most important thing in the minds of Americans.
But there were poor numbers across the board, including on whether Americans trusted Biden to deal with Vladimir Putin. Did the Zoom call Biden had with Putin where Biden claimed that he sternly warned Putin help him in the eyes of the American people?
Not at all, and it’s not hard to understand why when he says things about making an “accommodation” with Putin. 55 percent disapprove of how Biden is handling relations with Russia. That’s another big disapproval number. Only 38 percent trust Biden in dealing with Putin, which is down from 49 percent in June.
So if the Zoom call didn’t impress the American people, did it ward off or impress Putin with the big consequences he would face from Biden if he continued to threaten Ukraine? Was he cowed by Joe’s words? Not if Putin’s actions are any indication. Putin added more troops on the border with Ukraine to the 175,000 he already had there, according to ABC’s Martha Raddatz.
“Russia’s ability at this point — and 175,000 troops, think of that,” Raddatz said. “When we went into Iraq, we were nowhere near 175,000 troops. But also remember back to 2014 and this point about Russian troops. There were reports that Putin set up mobile crematoriums because he was burning the bodies of those who were killed, so the Russians would not see caskets coming back.”
“He has to be thinking about that. But they could move in swiftly. Look, the administration and officials are telling me they are not faking it. Putin is not faking it, but that, on the other hand, he may be really good at not faking it. I mean, he is moving in those troops,” Raddatz continued. “After that call with President Biden, they added more troops. They added at least 10,000 more troops. So, if he’s bluffing, it’s a very, very good bluff.”
I guess that Putin wasn’t frightened by Biden’s wave and inability to get his microphone to work at the start of their Zoom call. What he should have said instead of talking about “accommodations” is: “You need to back off now.” Period, end of sentence. But it’s clear whatever he said to Putin didn’t do much. This is the problem with a weak leader in the chair. Unfortunately, everyone knows it, which makes this period in time very dangerous for the United States and our allies.