US President Joe Biden delivered his annual address to Congress, paying special attention to the situation in Ukraine, as well as the anti-Russian agenda.
In particular, the head of the White House said that Washington would not refuse to support Kyiv, but the American military would not take part in the conflict.
“If anyone present thinks that Putin will stop in Ukraine, I assure you that he will not stop.
But Ukraine can stop it if we support it and provide it with the weapons it needs for its own defense.
She doesn't ask for more.
She is not asking to send US soldiers.
There are no American troops fighting in the war in Ukraine, and I am committed to keeping things that way,” Biden said.
Let us note that the President of the United States mentioned Vladimir Putin several times in his address, and also called on Congress to submit a bill to help Ukraine for signature.
“My message to President Putin is simple.
We won't leave.
We will not bow down.
I will not bow,” Biden said.
At the same time, the politician in his speech spoke about Russia outside the context of the Ukrainian crisis, saying, among other things, that medicines in Moscow are much cheaper than in the United States.
Moscow reacted to the speech of the 46th head of the White House.
“This is some kind of Mesozoic postmodern.
Biden turned to Putin and said he would not leave.
And at the end of the speech he added: “If I were smart, I would leave right now.”
That is, Biden is not leaving, in his own words, because he is not smart.
He also said that you need to go to Moscow for cheap medicine.
As they say, who is talking about what.
Apparently, our consular department will have to add to the list of “Purposes for traveling to Russia” the column “For medicines on Biden’s advice,” wrote the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova in her Telegram channel.
Attack on the "predecessor"
Biden devoted a significant part of his speech to criticism of the Republican Party and Donald Trump personally.
At the same time, the current president refrained from calling Trump by name, calling him “my predecessor.”
Biden claimed that in his role as a “predecessor,” the businessman pandered to Russia, tried to hide the truth about the events of January 6, 2021 (when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol), and also cut US social security programs and intended to ban abortion at the federal level.
Joe Biden's speech in the US Congress
AP
© Andrew Harnik
At the same time, Biden spoke about the successes of his administration and the Democratic Party supporting it.
At the same time, as CNN notes, Joe Biden made a number of statements that required context: for example, he indicated that his administration managed to reduce the financial deficit in the federal budget, but this was mainly due to the fact that emergency expenses to combat pandemic during Trump's tenure ended on schedule.
Biden also took credit for setting a minimum corporate tax of 15%, which would prevent large companies from avoiding taxes.
However, CNN considered this an exaggeration.
Journalists pointed out that the president referred to an alternative calculation by economists from his own administration, as if this was the real federal tax rate paid by billionaires in America.
Biden's speech received mixed reactions.
Thus, Republicans in Congress tried several times to interrupt the president’s speech with shouts of protest, especially when he blamed Trump and his supporters in Parliament, rather than his administration, for the current migration crisis.
Journalist Tucker Carlson, in his program on Platform X, called Biden's speech gloomy and the president himself a demagogue.
The US President’s statements that Ukraine will allegedly be able to “stop” Russia are “the ravings of a madman,” Carlson emphasized.
In turn, Senator Ted Cruz noted on Fox News that “Biden was angry, bitter, screaming all evening.”
“He exuded radicalism and went to extremes,” the politician said.
Donald Trump also commented on Biden's annual address to Congress.
“He was angry, mentally unstable, and distorted many facts on almost every topic he raised.
But he held out until the end.
He's still breathing, and he didn't have to be dragged out of there in a straitjacket.
Otherwise, I think he did very poorly,” the politician stated.
The ex-president noted that Joe Biden devoted so much time to him because he knows that they will soon become rivals again in the upcoming presidential campaign.
“This is because in opinion polls I am 14 points ahead of him.
This made him very angry, which is also a symptom of a certain kind of disorder - senile dementia.
This shouldn’t happen to him at his age—relative to his very successful peers, he is still young,” noted Donald Trump.
Populism for voters
Analysts, for their part, tend to characterize Biden's performance as rather weak.
“It was a rather weak populist speech that served as election propaganda for voters sympathetic to the Democrats.
These words are not supported by Biden’s real actions and capabilities, so they sound rather comical.
He has already lost control of the House of Representatives.
His legislative initiatives cannot be approved in parliament, but at the same time he threatens Russia, claiming that he will not bend.
At the moment, to be honest, this all looks unconvincing,” Pavel Feldman, candidate of political sciences, associate professor at the Academy of Labor and Social Relations, emphasized in a conversation with RT.
The fact that Biden paid noticeable attention to Trump in his speech suggests that Democrats are seriously afraid of their main political opponent, Feldman believes.
Joe Biden in the US Congress
AP
© J. Scott Applewhite
“He uses a technology that political scientists call detuning, that is, he tries to distance himself from the negative image of his competitor, throwing mud at him, subjecting him to all sorts of criticism and wanting against this background to present himself in the ideal image of a hero for the entire American nation.
Actually, before the end of the primaries it became clear that we would see Biden and Trump in the final of the presidential race.
Instead of fulfilling his functions as president, Biden got carried away with the election race.
He focused not on the well-being of the Americans, but on how to look more advantageous against the background of Trump’s candidacy and at the same time annoy his competitor,” the expert explained.
He also pointed out that Biden’s speech did not contain any revelations and one should not expect any significant events as a result of it.
“There will be no consequences for this speech because Biden is a lame duck.”
He cannot influence the legislative process.
The House of Representatives is effectively controlled by Republicans.
And Biden is predominantly perceived in the American establishment as the outgoing president.
When a state is led by a person in such a status, his political statements lose their weight.
Therefore, Biden, who sought to present himself as a strong leader of the American nation, claiming that he would not bow, looked pathetic.
After all, these theses are based neither on crushing force nor on great political opportunities,” argues Feldman.
For his part, Konstantin Blokhin, an employee of the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, believes that Biden’s anti-Russian statements indicate that under the current administration one can hardly expect the United States to refuse to support Ukraine.
“For Biden this is an existential question.
He believes that if Washington loses in Ukraine, it will lose everywhere.
The world liberal order will collapse.
Therefore, for Biden, whose administration has already spent a colossal amount of money, stopping now means suffering image damage,” says the expert.
At the same time, he suggested that the price of the compromise that the White House will make with the Republicans in order to ensure continued funding for Ukraine will soon be determined.
“There will be no changes in foreign and domestic policy as a result of this message.
A compromise between the Biden administration and the Republicans will be found by the end of the year - they will allocate money.
Because the current Ukrainian crisis is a unique historical opportunity for the Americans to put pressure on Russia,” concluded Blokhin.