Source: Overseas Network
U.S. President Joe Biden is suspected of "dozing off" at the Glasgow Climate Change Conference on Nov. 1. (Image source: video screenshot)
U.S. President Joe Biden's trip to Europe at the G20 Rome Summit and the Glasgow Climate Change Conference is clearly not a highlight of "America is back." Although the White House has been talking about "America is back" and seems to be full of enthusiasm in reviving the leadership of global governance in the United States, it is Biden who is suspected of "dozing" at the Glasgow Climate Change Conference on the overseas social platform. The New York Times wrote on Nov. 2 that while Biden is trying to reinvigorate the United States and his own "leadership" in Europe, "the personal style he enjoys has not yet helped him bridge the gap between his ambitions and what he can achieve."
Biden's trip comes at a time when his support is falling. A number of recent polls have shown that Biden's approval rating has fallen sharply due to the impact of poor response to the epidemic, chaotic withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan, supply chain crisis and soaring inflation. The Us Capitol Hill newspaper quoted a latest Harvard University poll on November 2 as showing that Biden's approval rating has fallen to 43%; Gallup's poll on presidential support released in October showed that Biden's approval rating fell from 56% in the first quarter to 44.7% in the third quarter, a drop of 11.3%, and his support in the first nine months of his term fell more than any U.S. president since World War II. A NBC poll struck the media even more: 71 percent of Americans and nearly half of Democrats believe the United States is on the wrong path. Despite Biden's repeated downplaying of the polls' influence, these poor figures still partly reflect American concerns about his leadership.
Especially on the eve of Biden's trip to Europe to attend the Glasgow Climate Change Conference, the "clean electricity plan" he pushed was stillborn due to the opposition of his own lawmakers, resulting in him having to attend the meeting "empty-handed". This undoubtedly magnifies Biden's inability to resolve domestic political deadlocks. In the case of the Biden administration's energy constantly being involved and constrained by domestic politics, the outside world is bound to question the quality of "The United States is back".
Against the backdrop of increasing populism and isolationism in the United States, the political fluctuations in the United States have become more extreme, which has also greatly reduced the international trust of the United States. Political cycle fluctuations and bipartisan policy changes have been the usual changes in American electoral politics, but in the past few years, with the rise of populism and the intensification of social antagonism, the degree of political rift in the United States has deepened, and the policy swing has become increasingly extreme. Taking the climate issue as an example, in the past 20 years, the United States has continuously staged a "join-exit" pendulum policy change on the climate issue: the Clinton administration signed the Kyoto Protocol, the George W. Bush administration refused to join and fulfill relevant commitments; the Obama administration joined the Paris Agreement and promised to reduce emissions, the Trump administration announced its withdrawal and significantly reversed the US energy policy; Biden announced its rejoining of the Paris Agreement on the first day of office, and announced a 50% to 55% carbon emissions reduction target by 2030... ... It is also between this "one advance and one retreat" that the international community's trust in the United States has been continuously weakened.
More importantly, while the Biden administration shouts "America is back," its foreign policy is more like an updated version of "America First": whether it is what it calls "middle-class diplomacy" or "values diplomacy", it is still fundamentally in the service of achieving Us global hegemony. The "plastic brotherhood" drama staged by Britain, the United States, France and Australia in the past two months is a true portrayal of the United States' continuous manipulation and teasing of its allies in order to achieve its own geopolitical interests. And with U.S. populism and isolationism likely to become the future trend, whether the United States has really returned to multilateralism is a huge question mark, and where does its so-called "leading the world" begin? Germany's "Daily Mirror" asked sarcastically: "Biden's trip to Europe, with Trump in his luggage?" ”
In fact, the collapse of the moral image has long since disqualified the United States from "leading" the world. During Biden's visit to Europe, the international community witnessed the "textbook hypocrisy" of the United States on climate issues: before apologizing for the Trump administration's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement at the Glasgow Climate Change Conference, Biden used a convoy of more than 80 luxury cars to visit the Pope at the Vatican, turning the visit into a staggering "pollution tour". This kind of "saying one thing and doing one thing" will undoubtedly expose the hypocrisy of American "emission reduction" and become the latest example of the collapse of American morality. At about the same time that Biden apologized for Trump, the Pew Center released a poll report that embarrassed Americans. According to the polls conducted in 17 advanced economies, 57 percent believe the United States is no longer a model of democracy in other countries, and 23 percent believe that the United States has never been a model of democracy in other countries.
In the Eyes of The New York Times, in the face of domestic political chaos and a flurry of support, the trip to Europe has become a "lifesaver" for Biden to reshape the leadership of the United States and itself. But it is clear that hypocritical "political performances" do not work. The more the White House "chatters," the more the international image of the United States will "fall endlessly." (Nie Shuyi)
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