Are they turning their backs on Biden? Biden’s international allies take a stand on his candidacy

There was a time when the allies of the US president, Joe Bidenabroad they made concessions to his age, they let his mistakes go and they brought him back to the fold when he seemed to be moving away. That is no longer the case.

His disastrous performance in the presidential debate changed the situation. Now even Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — a prominent leftist South American leader who wants a Democrat in the White House and who will host the next G20 summit — is saying it out loud.

“I think Biden has a problem“Lula — who like Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is 78 — told a local radio station.He is moving more slowly, he is taking longer to answer questions. The US elections are very important for everyone.”.

The voices calling for the oldest American president (he is 81) to step aside are growing louder, not just at home but also among the nations that have excused the president’s stumbling syntax and gaffes in recent months and years. That’s because Western capitals viewed the prospect of Trump returning to the White House as a greater threat.

Now, some European authorities are saying privately — and more forcefully — that Biden should step aside for someone more likely to beat Trump and preserve allied unity on Ukraine and NATO, people familiar with the matter said. There is anxiety about how Biden will present himself at the NATO summit in the United States next week, where his every move, gesture and word will be scrutinized in a relentless light.

In this environment, any potential mistakes he makes in closed-door meetings are likely to be made public by those in attendance and fuel calls for him to leave.

The people, who asked not to be identified for privacy reasons, said the octogenarian’s debate performance only underscored what they had witnessed for months, from a D-Day commemoration in France — where a frail-looking Biden attempted to sit awkwardly as his wife and French President Emmanuel Macron stood — to a Group of Seven summit in Italy, where viral clips on social media showed him wandering away from the group during a skydiving demonstration and having to be guided back by Giorgia Meloni.

That age was catching up to him was simply no longer up for debate, despite the White House’s forceful response to clips cut by conservative anti-Biden media. The reality is that at several summits, dating back to a 2022 meeting in the Bavarian Alps, it was clear the president’s agenda was light and his advanced age was taken into account in the planning.

A G7 official who attended the Italy meeting said there was an air of concern in the room about the issue and that it was a risk to the election. That was less than two weeks before the disastrous campaign debate between Biden and Trump. Biden blamed his performance on jet lag and a grueling travel schedule.

Biden faces a decisive weekend that could end his political career if the gaffes continue to multiply. On July 4, in an interview with Philadelphia radio station WURD, he again performed erratically and appeared to be confused with the vice president, Kamala Harriswho is emerging as a clear alternative to Biden and, unlike other potential Democratic candidates, already has both a national and international profile.

In an ideal world, Europeans would want a continuation of the “The United States is back” of Biden instead of the stance of “America First” from Trump. But after watching Biden at last week’s debate, many officials are being less deferential and more open about how the protective bubble around him should be removed.

A senior NATO diplomat said his U.S. counterparts have acknowledged they cannot afford such episodes from the president and that their priority is to ensure the summit is not overshadowed by attention on Biden, as opposed to the issues many of them want to focus on, such as how to counter Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Allies were already uneasy about the protracted fight in Congress over funding for Ukraine, which delayed crucial military aid and opened the door to Russian advances on the battlefield.

A European official pointed to the Supreme Court ruling that Trump enjoys some immunity from criminal charges for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The sense is that the traditional system of checks and balances in the United States is broken, he said.

Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, highlighted a moment from last week’s debate that went largely unnoticed locally but rattled America’s allies: When Biden asked Trump if he would defend a NATO country against Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump responded with a shrug.

“That is not a comforting answer for countries that, for 75 years, have depended on the United States’ security commitment for their defense, as a central element of their security.“Daalder said in an interview.