Joe Biden's strength is the real thing. [View all]

Don’t Buy the MAGA Meme About Weak Biden
Donald Trump’s “strength” resembles that of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Joe Biden’s strength is the real thing.

Bloomberg

April 26, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. EDT

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-04-26/don-t-buy-the-maga-meme-about-weak-biden-strong-trump

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Toward America’s adversaries, however, Biden has been simultaneously decisive and measured, which is to say effective. When Vladimir Putin failed to subjugate Ukraine quickly in 2022, the Russian president threatened, and probably contemplated, the use of nuclear weapons. Biden deterred him, by working discreetly with other powers, including China, while also signaling that he would punish Russian forces with a devastating conventional (as opposed to nuclear) counterstrike.

After Iranian proxies killed three American service members stationed in Jordan, Biden used enough force to signal to Tehran that it and its proxies must stop targeting US assets and citizens; so far Iran seems to have got the message. After Israel opened the latest round of escalation by striking an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria, Biden helped Israel defend itself against the Iranian retaliation, then talked Bibi into a counterstrike limited enough for Tehran to call it a day.

What this statecraft suggests is not weakness, but a mature kind of strength — the sort that doesn’t have to prove itself. Biden understands not only his own strengths and weaknesses but also those of enemies such as Putin and the mullahs. Through these nuances, he steers the US and the world as best he can away from cataclysm and toward order.

This is the kind of strength that Herodotus would recognize, based on intellectual humility, not hubris or posturing. It is the fortitude that makes a leader choose advisers who speak truth to power, not toadies who pledge unconditional loyalty. As Bill Clinton said after his time in the White House, “strength and wisdom are not opposing values.” Trump may or may not have the first, but surely lacks the second; Biden can plausibly stake a claim to both.

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