Never mind the politics that dominate in the media coverage of President Joe Biden. Never mind “Can he still beat Donald Trump?” Never mind “If he does win, can he hold it together–even stay alive–through a second term?” Never mind “If Biden does go, how do we get in a possible winner as nominee?” Never mind the “But he’s got the delegates locked up, and he’s determined to run, and we’re mostly old ourselves, so we might have to retire, so there’s no solution to the problem.” Never mind that, among the Democrats, the knives are out and scores are being settled through leaks and blaming. Never mind the Republicans chortling “told ya so.” Never mind any of it. Focus on the essentials.

Many Americans watched as much as they could stand of the first debate against Trump. Many Americans watched the “extended” (22 minutes) interview with George Stephanopoulos. The latter did nothing to repair the damage done by the former. He has “good” days and “bad” days. All of those days run between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM. Before or after that, he isn’t reliably present. He’s best when reading a prepared statement from a teleprompter. Sometimes he makes do by reading public statements from 3×5 cards or having his staff point out where everybody else is in the binder of documents. His staff tries to shield him from extended exchanges with reporters and donors.

Foreign leaders saw what Americans saw. Some of those leaders are “friendly.” It must give them pause to think of the “leader of the Free World” in such a decrepit state. Some of those leaders are “enemies.” (Again, never mind the “challenging the rules-based international order” stuff. They are enemies out to bring us down.)

China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran all threaten different interests of the United States. If they believe that the United States will be slow to respond to a threat or action, if they think that delay and uncertainty will let them get a bite at the apple, then they will do what their rulers deem to be in the best interests of their regimes. They don’t have to coordinate a plan beforehand. They just need to be agile and ready to pounce. They will see our weakness and harm us, perhaps destroy us.

If you need an example, look at Benjamin Netanyahu. President Biden flew to Israel to offer solid American support after the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023. Netanyahu is nothing if not predatory and a sharp observer of the people with whom he has to deal. He surely read Biden like an open book. Since then, he has continually defied Biden over the war in Gaza. Part of that reflects American domestic politics during an election year. Part of it reflects Netanyahu’s judgment that Biden will be uncertain, wavering, and just a bunch of talk in his response to Israel’s actions.

The evident already-occurred mental and physical decline of President Joe Biden represents a grave threat to the national security of the United States. It will only worsen in time.