“. . . this man cannot remain in power.”

When a President talks in any public forum, his/her words are always political, sometimes strategic, and—hopefully—honest. In each case, these words must reflect the reality as he sees it. Yesterday, President Biden spoke near a conflict border reminiscent of former President Reagan’s speech at the Berlin wall (“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”). Without doubt, the timing and place for this speech made it historic. But what was its political implications? Did it have a strategic impact? And did it reflect the President’s honest assessment of reality?

In 2016, I wrote a blog entitled “Truthful Hyperbole.” It outlined how Donald Trump applied his adman approach to political communication. As quoted from his book, “The Art of the Deal,” he felt that “people want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole.” Political statements, in his estimate, need no basis on reality. They just require an artful presentation or “pitch” to garner belief. For this reason, they are often deployed by dictators. President Putin, for example, can claim the Russian invasion of Ukraine is merely an effort to free Ukrainians from genocide at the hands of Nazis overlords. This statement is no more preposterous than Donald Trump’s campaign pitch to “drain the swamp” of self-serving politicians and criminals—the very element he so assiduously endeavored to promote during his administration. But “politics” invokes its root meaning from Athens and Rome wherein it refers to authority figures’ communications with citizens and, more specifically, citizens of a republic. These communications are unique in the sense that they involve more than the transfer of information. Their primary purpose is to convince followers/voters to support and believe in the communicator. Therefore, political speech is more about persuading citizens by whatever means, with or without any adherence to truth or fact. When the governed hear the statements of their political leaders, they should be just as skeptical as they would be of the salesman at their door, that is, “buyer beware.” Given the nature of politics, was the President Biden’s speech in Warsaw persuasive? Did it gain the support of its listeners, the American public, NATO leaders, and its larger world audience?

The answer to this question would seem to be affirmative, except for the American press. Since it is the role of journalists in a democratic state to question authority, the quote that prefaces this blog has raised an issue with American journalists. Specifically, did the President make a strategic statement, specifically, that America’s foreign policy advocates for regime change in Russia. Does “cannot remain in office” mean “should not” or “not competent” to hold the power of his office because of blatant malfeasance. Well, his words can be construed to mean either interpretation. Given the context of the President’s speech, where he deliberately exonerates the Russian people of the atrocities committed under Putin’s command, there is little doubt that he was invoking the conscience of the Russian people. But in what context can the President’s words imply America has or seeks the ability to remove Putin from his office? His statement is “strategic” in the sense that it may be construed to influence Russian citizens. But there is no actual strategy to insert American propaganda into Russian media or invoke the services of Russian dissidents to undermine Putin’s government. In other words, President Biden was not invoking the same kind of strategic interference in Russian politics that Putin initiated and continues to support against the American government. America is not duplicating Russia’s regime change efforts against America. A closed society like Russia does not have a free press or a bevy of politicians vying for Putin’s office. No American foreign policy can affect regime change in Russia. Nor is there any evidence as such, other than an appeal to Russian citizens to withdraw support for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. And that appeal has the same message as the free world’s financial sanctions on Russia, specifically, “stop this unprovoked war!” If the Russian people join the rest of the world, then Putin may be swayed to relinquish his unilateral/absolute power to wage an unprovoked war and recognize Ukrainian sovereignty over its own people and within its universally recognized borders.

America, like the rest of the free world, supports Ukraine’s fight to defend its borders and its people. But, even if regime change in Russia were the only means to accomplish this end, then no country would have the strategic means to remove Putin from his position of power. Instead, 141 countries have voted against Putin’s war in the United Nations. NATO with America’s support is actively arming Ukrainian fighters to defend their homeland, its people, and infrastructure. President Biden’s words, then, are aligned with the vast majority of nations, but have no tangible effect on Putin’s hold on the Russian Presidency. But his words do have a strategic impact by unifying the global community of nations in their support for Ukrainian resistance and for economic sanctions against Russia.

Clearly, President Biden’s quote here was intended to be and is strategic, though not in the sense of effecting a regime change. His words reflect his honest assessment of the tragic consequences of Putin’s war. Prior to his speech, he had met with a few of the approximately four million Ukrainian refugees, as many as half of whom are children. He heard stories of mass graves, of whole cities reduced to rubble, of Russian efforts to destroy infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and food delivery and storage facilities. While Putin’s army denies power, food, and water to civilians in besieged towns and cities, it also attacks refugees attempting to escape in mutually agreed safe corridors. It is difficult to assess responsibility for these atrocities because the Russian army seems to act without structure and discipline. While Ukrainians are forced to bury their dead in mass graves, the Russian soldiers do not even collect the bodies of their dead comrades. Instead, these bodies are left to decompose in the streets and fields where they were felled. As a former soldier and war veteran, I cannot fathom leaving fellow soldiers behind on the field of battle. Given the magnitude of this inhumanly conducted war, no man responsible for such carnage can have such power. No human being should have such unjustified power over the life and death of a whole population or a free nation. President Biden’s remarks reflect his honest assessment of President Putin’s immorality and unjustified use of war powers.

But did President Biden’s words so infuriate Putin as to reinforce his attack on Ukraine? Perhaps they made Putin angry, but his intent to have the Russian bear swallow Ukraine whole was hatched many years ago. He has written and spoken about his intent to restore the 19th century Russian empire for many years now. And he has often stated his deep resentment for the West’s incursion and absorption of former Soviet states. In other words, Putin has long sought—and fought—to regain Russian control over former Soviet states and to dominate all of Europe. President Biden’s words have no or little impact on Putin’s long held and burning grudge against the West for its infringement on his perceived Russian destiny to control and extend its borders/influence over all of Europe. Again, some American journalists have concocted an inference in Biden’s remarks without regard to history or established facts. Putin’s war is unjustified, is conducted in the most brutal and inhumane way imaginable, and is the act of a megalomaniac—a man possessed of a hegemonic world view that only he can heroically impose on unwitting philistines.

As President Biden stated so simply: “this man cannot remain in power.” In fact, no man can claim or hold such power, at least not in a moral universe.