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The organizing principle of Joe Biden’s presidency has been standing up for the idea of democracy.
His political campaigns are built on defending democracy at home, versus would-be election sidestepper Donald Trump.
Much of his presidency is built on defending democracy abroad, versus Ukraine invader Vladimir Putin, among others.
There are cascading frustrations this week – on both the domestic and foreign fronts – to test Biden’s promise that democracies will win over autocracies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky failed to change minds about further US aid despite paying personal visits to US lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
Biden himself recently said at a Hanukkah event at the White House that Israel’s government, which he described as the “most conservative government in Israel’s history,” needs to change its severe campaign against Gaza.
“The whole world’s public opinion can shift overnight, we can’t let that happen,” he said.
Biden has previously framed the need to fund Ukraine’s fight against Russia and Israel’s fight against terrorism as part of a larger struggle in defense of democracies.
“Hamas and (Russian President Vladimir) Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: They both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy – completely annihilate it,” Biden said in October, during a prime-time pitch for aid for the two countries.
Demands in exchange for Ukraine funding
House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement after meeting with Zelensky that he supports Ukraine fighting back against Putin and promised that Americans “stand for freedom and they’re on the right side of this…
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