Joe Biden was in Ottawa, Canada on Friday speaking to their Parliament and giving a presser with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Neither one went well. Biden had to correct himself when he embarrassingly applauded China during his remarks to Parliament and made other bizarre remarks.
Then when he took questions at the press conference — to his pre-approved list of reporters — he downplayed concerns about the growing alliance between China and Russia, as well as any concerns about banks collapsing. He also suggested the U.S. was achieving success at the Southern border when it’s been an unmitigated mess.
But one of the things that Biden said when he was downplaying the growing alliance between China and Russia stood out. He said, “We’re the ones expanding alliances.”
Indeed, the opposite is true, as we can see in his relationship with Saudi Arabia. President Donald Trump had a good working relationship with them and got them to move closer to Israel, something that’s better for the U.S. and better for peace in the region. Under Biden, they have now moved closer to their previous enemy, Iran, as well as to China, and that’s not good for the U.S or peace in the region.
Under Biden, the relationship with Saudi Arabia deteriorated rapidly after he tried to treat them like pariahs over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. Then he demanded that they pump more oil, and then had to go hat in hand to Saudi Arabia and fist bump MBS. But the meeting did not go well, with Biden getting nothing and reports afterward that they were upset how he had characterized the meeting.
How else do we know that the alliance with the Saudis is frayed and they don’t think much of Biden?
Let’s check out their state-run television to see a clip from their “Studio 22” show that went viral on Friday. They had a “Saturday Night Live” kind of comedy skit about Biden and Harris, showing Joe getting lost on the stage (not unlike how he has gotten lost), waving to the flags and trying to shake the hands of imaginary people and Kamala Harris trying to help him. She ends up having to redirect him to the right way off the stage. Then they had him saluting and falling up the stairs to Air Force One, multiple times.
This is the second time they’ve mocked him. They also had a bit last April when they depicted him as an old man who falls asleep at the podium and keeps needing to be nudged and woken up by Harris.”
If Biden thinks this is us increasing our alliances, he may want to check that again.
Indeed, Iran and Saudi Arabia have both applied to join BRICS, the economic alliance includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. That would again be bad for the United States and would benefit Beijing, creating a counterweight power to the U.S.
Yet, as we can see from that video of Joe Biden in Canada, he seems to have no idea that any of this is going on. That’s pretty scary when there truly appears to be a leader asleep at the switch.