Biden’s Visit to Germany This Week Has Democrats Girding for Gaffes

BERLIN — President Biden will travel to Germany this week, likely his final trip abroad, stirring worries that another verbal blunder might harm his vice president’s election prospects.Mr. Biden was supposed to travel to Germany last weekend, part of a presidential trip that included a stop in Angola. They called off the trip, though, to survey the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.The Germany stop would have included President Zelensky unveiling his victory plan for the war in Ukraine, a preview of which has been shown to Mr. Biden and the current presidential contenders. Although the agenda for this meeting at Berlin has been announced in detail, Mr. Biden is scheduled to meet with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the country’s president Frank-Walter Steinmeier.Since Mr. Biden’s debate performance against President Trump, which ultimately forced Mr. Biden to bow out of the election race, he’s racked up several notable gaffes. At a NATO summit in July, Mr, Biden accidentally called Mr. Zelensky as “President Putin.” He quickly corrected himself and offered his focus on beating Putin as an explanation for the slip-up.Earlier last month, Mr. Biden briefly donned a Trump hat in what was seemingly intended as a joke, though photos from the event went viral, claiming he had endorsed Trump out of spite. On Friday, Mr. Biden made a surprise appearance in the White House’s briefing room — his first ever — to talk up job growth during his tenure in office.After breaking down the facts and discussing figures, Mr. Biden jokingly responded to a reporter’s question about whether he would rejoin the race, saying he was “back in.” The response from the Harris campaign to the president’s off-the-cuff response was reportedly incredulity and indignation — the president’s remarks were unhelpful and served to underscore the divisions between the president and vice president.Polling shows the presidential contest a virtual dead heat, and any slip, slight mistake, or major gaffe from Mr. Biden could push the election needle ever so slightly toward Mr. Trump. The complex geopolitical topics likely to come up for discussion between Mr. Biden and his German hosts provide further fertile ground for a slip of the tongue from the American president.Two topics all but certain to come up between Mr. Biden and the Germans are the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and their increasingly divergent views of both. Herr Scholz announced, during the summit with Mr. Zelensky last week, a fresh $1.5 billion aid package for Ukraine, saying the aid symbolized Europe’s commitment to Ukraine for the long term.“It is a clear message to Putin — playing for time will not work. We will not let up in our support for Ukraine,” Herr Scholz said. Though Germany’s freshly announced aid is to be delivered by the end of this year, Berlin’s long-term financial commitment to Ukraine is an open question.The latest economic projections show that the German economy is set to grow by just 0.1 percent this year, leaving scant room for economic maneuvering and potentially a future hindrance to Ukraine aid. German lawmakers are also contending with the constitutionally mandated debt brake, a legal clause inserted into the constitution in 2009 that prohibits budget deficits greater than 0.35 percent of GDP. The clause allows for spending above that level only in response to emergencies or recessions and was invoked during the Covid 19 pandemic, providing a legal framework for additional borrowing. Western restrictions on weapon systems provided to Ukraine could also prove to be a bone of contention between Messrs. Biden and Scholz.While America has provided Ukraine with longer-range weapons than Germany, Berlin is the number two supporter — behind America — of Ukraine in terms of military aid. Unlike America, Herr Scholz has staunchly refused to provide Kyiv with the Taurus cruise missile, a long-range German weapon prized for its sophisticated warhead and targeting system.On the Middle East front, both Berlin and Washington have continued to provide Israel with military support, though fissures in Berlin’s relationship with Israel in particular are beginning to show. Bild, a German tabloid, reported that the German economic and foreign ministers, both members of the Green party, blocked the issuing of licenses for new weapon deliveries to Israel.Both ministers insisted the Israeli government must assure the German government — in writing — that Israel won’t harm civilians in Gaza with German weapons. Irrespective of what topics are brought up and discussed by Messrs. Biden and Scholz, the potential for a slip-up is hard to ignore. Mr. Biden might not mix up Messrs. Putin and Zelensky again, but his proneness to gaffes and misstatements might cause the Harris campaign yet another headache at a crucial time in the election cycle.

Biden’s Visit to Germany This Week Has Democrats Girding for Gaffes

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