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21 February 2024
Biden takes on ‘Putin and his thugs’
By Victoria Cooper, Research Editor
President Biden is expected to soon announce new sanctions targeting Russia, following the death of imprisoned political opposition leader Alexei Navalny last week. The details of the new major package will be unveiled on Friday, coinciding with the eve of the anniversary of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine on 24 February two years ago.
Responding to the news of Navalny’s sudden and suspicious death, Biden joined Western leaders in expressing “no doubt” over Putin’s responsibility and urged Congress to pass a new US$95 billion package of US aid for Ukraine and other US allies, which has stalled under House Republicans since passing the Senate on a bipartisan 70-29 vote last week.
Meanwhile, frontrunning candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, Donald Trump, has remained quiet on Putin’s alleged culpability. To the ire of President Biden, on Monday Trump posted to Truth Social, “The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our own Country” before linking Navalny’s death to his own political and legal woes.
This only deepens concerns for the US-European allies who met at the Munich Security Conference on the weekend. Concerns about a potential second Trump term after the former president said Russia could “do whatever the hell they want” with NATO allies who don’t spend enough on their own defence and Russia making its first major gains in Ukraine in nine months permeated the event.
NEWS WRAP
US blocks third UN ceasefire resolution
US blocks UN ceasefire resolution | The United States was the only member to veto the latest UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, with concerns for how the draft resolution would impact ongoing hostage negotiations and lasting peace. The United States is expected to circulate an alternative draft resolution later this week, although receiving support from Russia and China appears increasingly unlikely. READ MORE HERE
Delays in Trump’s Georgia case | Stakes are high for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis who is herself in court fighting accusations of an ethics violation over her relationship with fellow prosecutor, Nathan Wade. The allegations of a conflict of interest cast doubt over Willis’ prosecution of former president Trump and his allies over an alleged scheme of election interference, and is likely to delay the start of the trial. READ MORE HERE
Assange too ill to attend court | Australian citizen Julian Assange was unable to appear in a British court to appeal a decision that would see the WikiLeaks founder extradited to the United States. Assange faces several US espionage charges relating to his online publication of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents and could face 175 years in custody if convicted. READ MORE HERE
“A rabbit hole of lies” in Biden laptop case | Hunter Biden’s lawyers accused special counsel David Weiss of blowing up Hunter Biden’s plea deal on the basis of uncorroborated lies after evidence emerged that tip-offs about the Bidens’ alleged business dealings from an FBI informant were false. The evidence given by Alexander Smirnov is said to have involved Russian intelligence officials, stoking fears for how misinformation could impact this year’s election. READ MORE HERE
Cray cray for Tay Tay | Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will attend the Sydney show of US popstar Taylor Swift’s US$1billlion grossing Australian Eras tour. Taylor’s Australian stardom comes amid new research showing one in five Americans believe Swift is part of a plan to get President Biden re-elected in November. READ MORE HERE
“We don’t know exactly what happened, but there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did"
White House Remarks by President Biden | 16 February 2024
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Did you USSC?
- COMMENTARY | Navy overhaul: Focus on enhanced lethality and speed
USSC Director of Foreign Policy and Defence Professor Peter Dean writes in The Australian about Australian Navy's $11 billion overhaul of its surface combatant fleet, describing the announcement as an inflection point in Australia's national strategy. READ MORE HERE
- PODCAST | USSC Briefing Room | Is Biden in the ‘Danger Zone’? with Bruce Wolpe
Non-Resident Senior Fellow Bruce Wolpe appears on The Briefing Room to discuss special counsel Robert Hur's report investigating Biden's handling of classified documents and renewed concerns over Biden's fitness for a second term. LISTEN TO THE EPISODE
- EXPLAINER | A guide to the 2024 presidential election: from primaries to president
The Politics, Society and Culture team provide an overview of the US election and impacts of the Trump trials, conventions and swing states. READ MORE HERE
BY THE NUMBERS
Can Biden make himself seem great again?
By Victoria Cooper, Research Editor
Monday 19 February marked Presidents’ Day, a US federal holiday originally celebrating the birthday of the nation’s first president George Washington on 22 February 1732. Over time, the holiday has come to honour and reflect on each of the 46 of the US presidents and their contribution to the 247-year US democratic experiment.
Coinciding with the commemorative day this year, US presidential historians released the 2024 Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey, which ranked each of the presidents according to their average ‘greatness’ score, as determined by 154 presidential specialists. President Lincoln came in first place with an average score of 93.87; 45th President Donald Trump (and 2024 presidential hopeful) came in last with an average score of 10.92; while President Biden averaged a score of 62.66, putting him in 14th place.
Biden may have performed well among those presidential experts surveyed, but when America’s public is asked their opinion of their president, the current president’s supposed greatness seems to go unnoticed.
Biden’s 2023 approval rating sat at 39 per cent, continuing a long-stretch of low approval ratings that have plagued the president since mid-2022 and sent him into the new year with the lowest third-year approval rating since President Carter in 1979 (a notably one term president, and according to the survey, the most ‘under-rated’ president). Meanwhile, at the third-year mark in his presidency in 2019, Donald Trump – Biden’s main rival to re-election – had an approval rating of 45 per cent.
Incumbent job approval is often thought to be one of the best indicators of a re-election success, and those seeking re-election with an approval rating of around 50 per cent near election day tend to be re-elected. President Biden has a lot of ground to cover to convince the American people of his greatness and avoid the same fate as President Carter; lest the least ‘great’ president succeed to the Oval Office in his own re-election comeback.
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University of Sydney NSW 2006
