This White Hosue effort at remaking Joe Biden seems to have failed once more.
They wanted him to give a Reagan-like speech about Vladimir Putin. As with all Joe Biden’s speeches, however, he made a comment that caused him to be in serious trouble. As we reported, during his speech, he appeared to be encouraging regime change against Putin. “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power!”
This man can’t remain at the helm for God’s sake.
Did Joe Biden just endorse regime change in Russia? pic.twitter.com/QNLG8OZ3Oz
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 26, 2022
It was instantly promoted by the media.
Biden in Poland: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” he said of Putin
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 26, 2022
🚨POTUS ends his speech with the strongest words we’ve heard yet directed at Putin: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”
— annmarie hordern (@annmarie) March 26, 2022
It was a hot topic for both the German and Ukrainian media.
⚡️Joe Biden of the United States stated that Vladimir Putin, Russia’s President, should not be in charge anymore.
“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” he said during his speech in Warsaw.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 26, 2022
The US President Joe Biden concluded his speech in Poland calling for the removal of Vladimir Putin, Russia’s leader, and saying, “For God’s sake, that man cannot continue in power.” pic.twitter.com/TcbqiiL160
— DW News (@dwnews) March 26, 2022
But the White House knew what a mistake he’d made — that it would be viewed as Biden advocating regime change — and that it would inflame the situation; that Putin would likely use it as a propaganda point showing that the U.S. was trying to get rid of him and that would make things even worse. It also might be implying they were taking action that they weren’t willing to take. The bell was immediately unrung and they walked it back.
🚨President Biden ended his speech seeming to call for regime change in Russia: “For Gods sake, this man cannot remain in power!”
Immediately, a WH official takes that step back. “He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.” pic.twitter.com/kFCJGacwNH
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) March 26, 2022
So now they have to explain to the rest of the world: Whoops, he didn’t mean that — we’re going to try to say it means something other than what he said.
Instead of having the Reagan-like speech that they’d hoped for, they once again had a mess. Biden was the third occasion they’d had to deal with on their trip. However, this time was more visible due to the hype surrounding the speech. Previously, they had to clean up him saying that the U.S. would respond “in-kind” if Russia did a chemical attack. He also said to the 82nd Airborne, “In-kind” that he was going to see freedom fighters in the streets, opposing tanks. The White House had to say, no, Biden wasn’t sending troops to Ukraine, despite what Biden said. He also said that “some of you (troops) have been there,” something else likely to set off Russia and endanger the American troops in Poland.
In an attempt to justify the White House’s clean-up, whiplash almost struck the media after it was revealed that the White House had cleaned up the mess.
MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski tried to phrase it as Biden keeping the Russians guessing.
Biden is keeping the tyrants guessing, just like Reagan.
— Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) March 26, 2022
It was more like he kept his communications team guessing, and had a lot of hiccups about how to handle the situation.
The White House tried spinning a little more. Ron Klain, White House Chief Of Staff, retweeted Ben Rhodes. You know you’re getting low when you have to rely upon Ben Rhodes to help you spin.
The official position of the White House is now that Biden should be taken at his word.! pic.twitter.com/O5DZW7SkIs
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) March 26, 2022
However, honest media understand that it was a serious problem.
The White House’s contention is that he misspoke. If that’s true, that’s really bad. If he was being genuine but his own staff is undermining his message, that’s also really bad. It’s total chaos in the worst place and time.
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) March 26, 2022
“The President didn’t mean a wall. He also didn’t mean tear down. He was referring to long-standing policy on West Berlin”
— Bruno Maçães (@MacaesBruno) March 26, 2022
It’s hard to see how this is good when you hand Putin the propaganda point he’s been pushing to his people. That could make Putin more recalcitrant to talk peace because he’s now received confirmation, in his mind, that we do want to take him out. This is what the dangers of Biden being in office.
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