While the Western world is closer to a nuclear-level World War III situation than it has been in nearly 60 years, President Joe Biden decided to take the weekend off and hit the local beach for a little rest and relaxation.
According to Breitbart, continuing a trend of returning to his Delaware home on the weekends more often than not, the president packed up his wife, Jill, and their new dog, “Commander,” and took a trip out to their beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
While most reasonable people have absolutely no issues with a president taking some time to recharge, with Biden, it’s almost always at what seems to be the worst possible times, especially from an optics perspective.
The trip back to Delaware also comes on the heels of what appears to have been a failed effort to recruit Chinese President Xi Jinping to team up on the economic sanction front against Russia as Vladimir Putin continues his deadly rampage into Ukraine.
Upcoming trip
The weekend getaway also comes just days before the president is set to embark on a trip to Eastern Europe, where the Associated Press reports that he’ll meet “face-to-face” with various European leaders amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
His trip abroad will culminate on March 24 at what’s being described as an “extraordinary” NATO meeting in Brussels, Belgium.
“While he’s there, his goal is to meet in person face-to-face with his European counterparts and talk about, assess where we are at this point in the conflict in the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. We’ve been incredibly aligned to date,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said of his upcoming trip.
She added: “That doesn’t happen by accident. The president is a big believer in face-to-face diplomacy. So it’s an opportunity to do exactly that.”
According to Poland’s foreign minister Zbigniew Rau, a visit to Poland by the president is “very probable.”
Optics are everything
Though the optics of his trip to Delaware this weekend are not ideal, Daniel Hamilton, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for European affairs, said the president’s upcoming trip needs to happen to ensure that the world knows he’s ready for action.
“As the war continues, it’s important that the president show he is not sitting comfortably across the Atlantic, but that he is part of the coalition meeting with European colleagues in Europe and that the United States is a European power.”
Given Biden’s past appearances on the world stage, sadly, many lack confidence that Biden’s meeting with other world leaders will result in much more than a new list of gaffes and other embarrassing moments. Only time will tell.
