Biden’s chaotic debate performance, which has sent shockwaves throughout the Democrat party, was observed by Russia and China. Government-run media in those countries were happy to use the debate fiasco against the U.S.
Rebekah Koffler, a strategic military intelligence analyst and author of “Putin’s Playbook,” told Fox News Digital: “Every outlet, big and small, carries a piece describing what happened. Some have more than one. Most of them, if not all, are derogatory of both candidates and mocking America.”
“What [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is seeing is that the American Society is deeply fractured and consumed by its own problems,” Koffler said. “Putin likely believes that Russia wins either way, no matter who wins, because he expects the U.S. to plunge into chaos in the aftermath of the elections, because the country is so divided and polarized.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed that Putin “was too bored to wake up and watch the U.S. debate,” but that “we have seen media reports about these debates.”
Russian media tied the debate to a success for Russia, with Putin able to call the shots in Ukraine – not least because of Trump’s apparently stronger prospects in November.
They even pointed out Biden’s “half-open mouth, unblinking eyes” and “blank expression on his face.”
Russian state TV New York bureau chief Valentin Bogdanov told his audience, “This is how Joe Biden appeared before an audience of millions.”
The Chinese were similarly unimpressed by the debate. While official media seemed to have broadly played down the debate, a state-run tabloid accused it of being “the most chaotic presidential debate ever” and its conduct was more like a reality TV show.
The Global Times most specifically took issue with Trump blaming Beijing for “the raging COVID-19 epidemic and U.S. economic woes.”
Influencers on Chinese Social Media were even more confrontational. Among the social media commentary was that of one-time state media editor Hu Xijin, who took to Twitter to say: “Objectively speaking, the low-quality performance of these two old men was a negative advertisement for Western democracy.”
Many other social media users then gave it the thumbs down in their comments and used words like “disaster,” a “train wreck” and “a waste of time.”
Reception even in allied nations wasn’t much more warm and fuzzy. Polish Foreign Minister Radslaw Sikorski’s cryptic message on X seemed to be an unfavorable comparison between Biden and the great Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.
“Marcus Aurelius was a great emperor, but he screwed up his succession by passing the baton to his feckless son Commodus (He, from the Gladiator) whose disastrous rule started Rome’s decline),” Sikeorski wrote. “It’s important to manage one’s ride into the sunset.”
Another outlet, Die Welt, lamented that Biden was not an exciting candidate but one who had “common sense and a stable personality” who would keep “normalcy” in the White House.
