CNN
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President Joe Biden's dismal showing against former President Donald Trump during CNN's presidential debate sent shockwaves around the world, with diplomats around the world expressing shock and concern and raising questions about the impact on the U.S. election that could upend the foreign policy status quo if Trump is re-elected.
Several diplomats told CNN that Thursday night's debate between Biden and Trump was “painful to watch.”
The overwhelming consensus among more than a half-dozen diplomats from Europe, the Middle East and Asia who CNN spoke to was that it was, as one European diplomat put it, “a bad night for Biden.”
“The sad reality is that Biden is old and getting older. We saw it. I understand English pretty well but I had difficulty understanding what he was saying,” the second European diplomat said.
“Trump ate him alive,” one Arab diplomat said.
“I was shocked. I couldn't believe my eyes,” one Asian diplomat said of Biden's performance.
Biden's debate gaffes made front-page news across Europe, and in France, where elections are due to take place this weekend, newspapers on both the left and right slammed the president.
The presidential debate performance intensified already pronounced concerns about the policies Trump might implement if he wins the November election. Trump on Thursday reiterated the isolationist tendencies and NATO-skeptical worldview that often alarmed U.S. allies during his first term in office. During the debate, Trump questioned the continued funding of Ukraine's war against Russia and falsely claimed the U.S. has given Ukraine more aid than all other European countries combined.
Trump even suggested he had spoken to Russian President Putin about “dreams” of invading Ukraine, and he also attacked Biden over the Afghanistan withdrawal, claiming that was the reason Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022.
“President Putin looked at that and said, 'Well, we're going to invade Ukraine and maybe take my country.' That was his dream. I talked to him about that dream. The difference is, he never invaded Ukraine. Never,” Trump said.
A Ukrainian politician told CNN that Trump's comments about the war in Ukraine were “alarming.”
“We are very concerned because we more or less understand what a Biden presidency means for Ukraine, but we have no idea what a Trump presidency means for Ukraine,” Oleksiy Goncharenko told CNN. “It could be very good, it could be very bad. We don't know. It's definitely something to be concerned about.”
Diplomats CNN spoke to said Thursday's election results don't call into question his ability to be commander in chief at this point, and many noted he has a capable team in place, but some questioned how Democrats would handle the matter.
Poland's Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski posted on social media that Biden should manage his succession plans responsibly.
“Marcus Aurelius was a great emperor but ruined the succession by passing the baton to his incompetent son Comudos. His disastrous role marked the beginning of Rome's decline. It's important to navigate your way into the sunset,” he wrote.
Another Polish diplomat didn't mince words, calling Biden's performance “horrible, a literal car crash.”
After the debate, Democrats were not the only ones to raise the possibility of fielding an alternative candidate to Biden in November's presidential election. Foreign diplomats also expressed concern that Democrats might turn to Plan B.
“If you can change horses, you should,” the second European diplomat said. “If it's possible to call the governor of California and have him say to Biden, 'You go, I'm out,' that would be the right way to go.”
But like many Americans, diplomats woke up Friday unsure of what to expect.
“Many options are being discussed but none seem obvious,” a European diplomat said.
Some of them have been reaching out to their US counterparts to gauge the possibility of Democrats moving away from Biden.
“There's always been talk about replacing Biden, but now doubts have surfaced, US officials say. It's serious,” said a third European diplomat. “We're told that if Democrats are going to do this, they'll have no choice but to appoint Kamala (Harris) because they can't ignore a black woman vice president, but they're worried about how that will affect their base. They think they could still lose.”
The diplomats were not surprised by Trump's foreign policy comments during the debate — one called it “business as usual” — but they added that they were more concerned about Trump's lack of engagement with Ukraine and what it means for European security.
“Trump certainly won. His world view is problematic, so for people who believe in a rules-based order, Trump is not a good choice,” a NATO official said. “Rules mean predictability, Trump means unpredictability. He may go easy on Russia. He tends to get along with strongmen. He may also step up his support for (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky. The problem is there's no strategy. It all feels like it's being done impulsively.”
Other diplomats also noted that Trump's comments about the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas were likely to reflect negatively on him among Arab American voters.
“Calling Biden a Palestinian was bad. It was an insult to Palestinians and it cost him Arab voters,” the Arab diplomat said. “He could have said he was a bigger supporter of Israel in many other ways.”
And yet, even as Trump highlighted long-standing concerns, there was genuine shock and concern about Biden's performance and what it means for his chances of winning the presidential election in November.
This diplomatic response was mirrored in the British media. In an unusual unanimity, the usually calm Financial Times reported that “the Democrats are panicking,” and the hard-hitting tabloids, known for their scathing criticism, joined in, reporting “Joe Matos” in Britain's most popular tabloid, The Sun. Another outlet, the left-leaning Guardian, followed suit, saying “Biden is a disaster.”
Biden's stumbles in the Atlanta debate touched nerves across Europe, where radio stations woke up to Biden's remarks, which at times seemed choppy and confused.
No country is immune to concerns about Biden's performance. Even in France, where President Emmanuel Macron's coalition faces a surprise election this weekend in which it faces a challenge from the far right, newspapers took the time to lament the weaknesses of Biden, who visited the country just a few weeks ago.
The ubiquitous left-leaning newspaper Le Monde ran the following: “Biden: Old, tired and absent: How the debate with Trump turned into a disaster.”
Indeed, a wave of anxiety seems to be spreading around the Mediterranean, with Greek newspaper To Vima headlining “Time for Biden to quit the race” and Italian newspapers ANSA and La Repubblica suggesting Democrats are “looking for an alternative”, raising questions about Biden's departure.
But while much of the European media appeared shocked, the Russian media was rather ecstatic. Moscow state TV station Russia-1 mocked Biden's debate performance.
Show presenter Olga Skabieva laughed and congratulated him for not falling, before criticising him for freezing for 20 seconds as he struggled to remember who he was and where he was.
Putin's spokesman said the Russian leader had not stayed up late to watch the debate and that it was “not on[Putin's]main agenda list.”
But it seems reasonable to assume that he is aware of the situation by now, even if only through the unkind filter of his own media.
A Russian TV station's parody of Biden shortly after the debate likely reflected the Russian president's mood, perhaps buoyed by Trump's criticism of NATO, his threat to cut aid to Ukraine and his suggestion that there would be peace in the country by the end of the year.
Behind closed doors, European leaders will be reflecting on the substance of what they heard, rather than the froth and gaffes of Biden's speech. After all, many of them met Biden at the G7 summit in Italy two weeks ago, so his weakness was probably not a surprise.
At a luxury resort hotel in southern Italy's picturesque Puglia region, Biden kept people waiting for up to 30 minutes on both days, showing up unexplained late and still appearing a little fidgety at times.
A second Trump presidency is the last thing most European leaders want: the world is far more dangerous than when he last left office.
