Biden In Lithuania

At the NATO this past week, President Biden gave an even better speech on foreign policy than he gave in Poland in early 2022.

Biden recommitted himself to helping Ukraine fight for its sovereignty and its democracy against the Russians, having promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the United States will remain engaged in their struggle, and he drew the parallel between Ukraine and the struggle of the Baltic States - including Lithuania - during the Cold War.  He praised the Baltic peoples for standing up to the Soviet Union and using peaceful resistance to break away from the U.S.S.R. and regain their independence, setting the standard for standing up to Russian aggression.  He then pivoted to the need for all nations to work together to ensure freedom and work to guarantee a more peaceful world and reverse climate change.

All nice rhetoric, and we know Biden means it, as it came on the heels of getting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to bend to Swedish membership in NATO by dangling F-16 airplanes for Turkey.  Vladimir Putin couldn't be more frustrated.  Except for one thing: Putin has a Trump card.

If Donald Trump manages to win back the White House in November 2024, nothing Biden said in Vilnius is going to matter.  Trump will hold back aid for Ukraine, let Putin gain the upper hand, and likely withdraw the United States from NATO.  And don't think he can't win next year's presidential election.  Biden's popularity remains in the toilet, and his approval on the economy is even lower.  Americans still largely vote their pocketbooks, and more of them are becoming more skeptical about support for Ukraine.  And a lot of them believe climate change is a hoax.  President Biden's vision of a freer and more just world is at odds with the growing right-wing authoritarianism at home.  In short, all of his efforts to restore stability and democracy to the world could be undone in just a few hours once the votes are counted on Election Day, 2024.

And once that happens, Americans aren't safe.  Ukrainians aren't safe, either.

Quite frankly, no one will be safe.