NEWS
Foreign diplomats react with horror to Biden’s dismal debate performance
against former President Donald Trump resonated around the world, with foreign diplomats expressing shock and concern while raising questions about the implications for a consequential US election that could upend the foreign policy status-quo should Trump be elected again.
“Hard to watch” is how multiple foreign diplomats described Thursday night’s debate between Biden and Trump to CNN.
The overwhelming sentiment among more than half a dozen diplomats from Europe, the Middle East and Asia whom CNN spoke to was that it was “a bad night for Biden,” as one European diplomat put it.
“It is a sad reality that Biden is old, and he is getting older. We saw it. I had difficulties understanding what he was saying, and I understand English pretty well,” said a second European diplomat.
“I was shell-shocked. I could not believe my eyes,” an Asian diplomat said of Biden’s performance.
Biden’s debate flop was front-page news across Europe, with left- and right-leaning newspapers excoriating the president – even in France, where the country