President Biden in wartime
Americans now face the risk of getting lured into wars on three continents. Will that change the calculus for Biden, Trump and 2024?
While the GOP face-planted on a somehow-still-speakerless Capitol Hill this week, President Joe Biden embarked on a trip to the Middle East to voice support for Israel and coax Egypt into opening up a vital if meager avenue for humanitarian aid for Gazans. “The contrast with Republicans could not be sharper,” says Democratic Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a co-chair of Biden’s reelection campaign.
Biden followed up his Wednesday visit with an Oval Office address on Thursday, pressing the case for an emergency aid package as the U.S. tangles with ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza and potential war in Asia over Taiwan. The dynamic was clear: While the GOP-controlled legislative branch lies paralyzed with intra-party bickering, the Democratic executive branch is aggressively defending American interests.
Coons emphasizes that Biden’s lightning-fast Israel trip was not about the politics of 2024, but it did provide the president and his allies with an opportunity to flip an entrenched narrative that has weighed heavily on his campaign: that he’s too old at age 80 to get the job done. Biden hoped to demonstrate that in times of war, it’s a president with a deep political background and a steady hand who will make Americans feel safe — not a self-styled disruptor like Donald Trump.
“The internet is rife with memes and clips of Biden shuffling, falling and misspeaking,” writes Michael Hirsh in this week’s Friday Read. “His campaign wants to turn that vulnerability into a strength by arguing that only Biden has the experience and wisdom to handle what is becoming one of the most perilous international landscapes since World War II, campaign aides say.”
But here’s the question: Will it work?
“@POTUS went to Israel in his big ol' plane and couldn't be bothered to bring back a single American.”
Can you guess who tweeted this about President Biden? Scroll to the bottom for the answer.**
Bush Is Back … Unlike most past presidents, former President George W. Bush was content to fade from the limelight into a quiet life of portrait painting. Then Hamas attacked Israel, and Washington was suddenly awash in Bush-era vibes. Democratic California Rep. Brad Sherman even floated him as House speaker. And this week, Dubya weighed in on the Middle East conflict himself, saying that “negotiating with killers is not an option.” “It felt just like old times,” writes Michael Schaffer, who breaks down 43’s resurgence in this week’s Capital City column.
In late 2020, the Texas lawyer and election conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell was one of the most extreme members in a band of outside advisers who encouraged Donald Trump to cling to power. On Thursday, she pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors in a deal that requires her to cooperate with the Georgia prosecutors who have charged Trump and his allies with a sprawling racketeering conspiracy. Here are four reasons why Powell’s plea could be pivotal (from POLITICO’s legal editor, James Romoser):
— Powell is not the first of Trump’s alleged co-conspirators to reach a plea deal in the Georgia case, but she is the first of his close advisers to do so. Powell attended crucial Oval Office meetings in December 2020 in which Trump mulled increasingly desperate plans to overturn his defeat to Joe Biden. At one point, Trump even considered naming Powell a special counsel to seize voting equipment. Other close Trump aides have already shown signs of turning against him, and now that Powell is cooperating, the pressure intensifies for them to cut their own deals.
— Her deal is noticeably lenient. Powell will get six years of probation, pay $8,700 in fines and write an apology letter to the people of Georgia. That’s a stunning downgrade from the years in prison she was facing for the felonies she was charged with. Prosecutors would not have agreed to such favorable terms unless Powell is providing vital information that will help their case against even bigger defendants, likely including Trump.
— Many of Trump’s election-subversion schemes were cloaked as legal advice, but the lawyers pushing that advice have now seen their careers ruined. Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and Jeff Clark are all facing the loss of their law licenses on top of potential criminal liability. Another lawyer, Kenneth Chesebro, is set to go on trial in Georgia in the coming days.
— Powell’s plea could have ripple effects beyond Georgia and into the separate federal election case against Trump brought by special counsel Jack Smith. Powell is an unindicted co-conspirator in that case, and it’s unclear whether Powell is cooperating with Smith’s team. But any testimony she gives in Georgia likely could be used in the federal case as well.
Why Eisenhower Wanted to Kill a Prime Minister … Just a month after his country gained independence from Belgium — and amid the chaos of a mutinied army, a seceded province and a UN peacekeeping operation — 35-year-old Prime Minister of Congo Patrice Lumumba came to Washington to try and win over President Eisenhower, who viewed his outreach to the Soviet Union with great suspicion. Things didn’t turn out like Lumumba expected. Over the course of a week, the White House snubbed him, the CIA set up a tryst for him with a “blonde” in a hotel and he tried to convince Dave Chappelle’s mother to come to Congo. To top it all off, after Lumumba’s visit, the president issued America’s first order to assassinate a foreign leader. Foreign Affairs Executive Editor Stuart A. Reid shares the unbelievable story in this adaptation from his book, The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination.
**Who Dissed answer: It was the scandalous Republican New York Rep. George Santos, who tweeted this Thursday on X.
