International leaders convened in Washington, D.C., for the launch of the NATO Summit Tuesday, paving the way for a crucial opportunity for host President Joe Biden to prove to critics he is fit for a second term.
The three day event's key initiative to drum up support for Ukraine in its war against Russia will likely be overshadowed by questions swirling around Biden's ability to defeat Donald Trump in the November election, following the 81-year-old president's unnerving debate performance June 27.
"Journalists attending President Biden's summit press conference will likely not ask one question about NATO but instead ask about the president's political future," former senior Pentagon official Jim Townsend predicted, according to The Hill.
During his welcome speech Tuesday, Biden defended his NATO track record in a vigorous and assertive speech – starkly different from what the public witnessed last month – aimed to quell worries over his fitness as a leader.
"(Vladimir) Putin wants nothing less, nothing less, than Ukraine's total subjugation... and to wipe Ukraine off the map," Biden said of the Russian president, according to Reuters. "Ukraine can and will stop Putin."
He closed out his remarks for the evening by awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg, Axios reported.
In an interview with MSNBC Monday, Biden cited his accomplishments with the intergovernmental military alliance as one of several key reasons he is deserving of reelection.
"Our allies are looking for U.S. leadership. Who else do you think can step in here and do this? I expanded NATO. I solidified NATO. I made sure that we're in a position where we have a coalition of... nations around the world to deal with China, with Russia, with everything that's going on in the world. We're making real progress."
Despite public calls from six Democratic House members for the President to drop his reelection bid, Biden vowed to see his campaign through in a letter to lawmakers this week.
"I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump," he wrote.
Sitting down with ABC News host George Stephanopoulos over the weekend, Biden downplayed his upsetting Atlanta debate to a "bad episode," blaming it on a cold and sleep deprivation. He promised only the "Lord Almighty" could convince him to quit the race.
