In something like the Biden-Putin summit, neither side has a magic wand. “Winning” is a matter of degrees. But separate press conferences, at a time when Biden has legitimacy in the eyes of the world, and Putin doesn’t, and Biden refuses to give him any, feels like a Biden win.
Of course the American media (on the left and right) has been up Putin’s ass all week, because it’s good for ratings. But this summit is about how the world perceives it. Putin would have benefited from standing next Biden at this press conference, and Biden was like “nah”
In any given situation, Biden loves to embrace everyone on all sides, except for the specific handful of people he thinks are the problem. It creates the appearance of “wow, Biden gets along with EVERYONE except [certain person], so that person must really suck.”
It’s probably just Biden’s nature to begin with, given his combination of natural gregariousness and moral code. But it makes for an effective political strategy, because it really puts the spotlight and scrutiny on the bad actor in any given scenario.
And that’s why Putin, in spite of his overall power, is up there nervously trying to spin his meeting with Biden as having gone positively. Biden is refusing to be up there saying it with him, so Putin is reduced to sort of kissing Biden’s ass for legitimacy.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
