It was difficult to tell if it was a typical gaffe or a calculated gambit, but President Biden threatened Russia with economic war and perhaps even more yesterday during his first news conference of 2022.
He also confessed that elections can be stolen, something Democrats have long denied, and revealed that his mental acuity continues failing.
Commentators called the performance embarrassing. But the more important takeaway is that even more U.S. troops might soon find themselves in Poland or another NATO country if Russia invades Ukraine. Biden seemed to be preparing for war in Europe.
No Dollars for Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin has “never seen sanctions like the ones I promised will be imposed if he moves,” Biden said:
I think what you’re going to see is that Russia will be held accountable if it invades. And it depends on what it does. It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera.
But if they actually do what they’re capable of doing with the forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further ingra- — invade Ukraine, and that our allies and partners are ready to impose severe costs and significant harm on Russia and the Russian economy.
Biden said he told Putin the United States will “fortify” NATO allies, and claimed to have “shipped over $600 million worth of sophisticated equipment, defensive equipment to the Ukrainians.”
Putin, Biden said, is on the march:
Do I think he’ll test the West, test the United States and NATO as significantly as he can? Yes, I think he will. But I think he’ll pay a serious and dear price for it that he doesn’t think now will cost him what it’s going to cost him. And I think he will regret having done it.
But that “test” will have “severe economic consequences,” Biden continued. “For example, anything that involves dollar denominations, if they make — if they invade, they’re going to pay; they’re not going — their banks will not be able to deal in dollars.”
The U.S. will fortify its military contingents in Poland and Romania if Putin takes Ukraine.
“We’re going to actually increase troop presence in Poland, in Romania, et cetera,” he said, “because we have a sacred obligation in Article 5 to defend those countries.”
About 4,500 U.S. military personnel are stationed in Poland. A recent report put the number of U.S. troops in Romania at 1,000.
The United States is not obliged to defend Ukraine because it is not part of NATO, Biden said. And it won’t be anytime soon.
Elections Can Be Stolen
After promising unprecedented sanctions on Russia — an act of war — Biden said the results of the 2022 midterms in November might be questionable unless the GOP agrees to nationalize elections and virtually guarantee voter fraud.
Biden said election fraud is a real threat, which Democrats have long denied in opposing the GOP on voter ID.
“I think it easily could be — be illegitimate,” Biden said, raising the specter of the 2020 election:
Imagine — imagine if, in fact, Trump had succeeded in convincing Pence to not count the votes.…
I mean, imagine if those attempts to say that the count was not legit. “You have to recount it and we’re not going to count — we’re going to discard the following votes.”
Amusingly, former President Trump said the remark admits that Biden stole the presidency, but anyway, the reporter brought him back to 2022.
“I mean, sure, but — I’m not going to say it’s going to be legit,” Biden continued:
It’s — the increase and the prospect of being illegitimate is in direct proportion to us not being able to get these — these reforms passed.
Biden might just be prepping listeners to believe the election was stolen if the GOP wins, which the Democrats have said amounts to treason.
Stumblin’ Joe
Besides admitting that elections can, indeed, be stolen, Biden again demonstrated that his mind is going, if not already gone.
In an exchange about school closings that could be a favorable issue for the GOP in November’s midterms, Biden repeatedly stumbled.
Oh, I think it could be, but I hope to God that they’re — that — look, maybe I’m kidding myself, but as time goes on, the voter who is just trying to figure out, as I said, how to take care of their family, put three squares on the table, stay safe, able to pay their mortgage or their rent, et cetera, has — is becoming much more informed on the motives of some of the political players and some of the — and the political parties. And I think that they are not going to be as susceptible to believing some of the outlandish things that have been said and continue to be said.
The stumbling worsened as Biden tried his best to answer:
I mean, the idea that — the American public are trying to sift their way through what’s real and what’s fake. And I don’t think as — I’ve never seen a time when the political coverage — the choice of what political coverage a voter looks to has as much impact on as what they believe; they go to get reinforced in their views, whether it’s MSNBC or whether it’s Fox or whatever.
