A constant talking point on the right is that Donald Trump is strong and would never have permitted Putin to invade Ukraine. Their past relationship demonstrates the absurdity of this and we should remind ourselves of it.
The two leaders' wishes for closer relations have been thwarted -- for now.
There are some interesting aspects to this. Biden isn’t “strong” in the usual sense of expressing personal dominance. What he has proven himself good at is getting a set of political actors to coordinate its efforts on common goals. Partly he does this by not trying to hog the credit. But he has managed to get Congress to more or less cooperate in pushing back against Russia, and he’s managed to get most of the developed world to do the same. Which is quite as good as “strength” when you’re up against it.
Can you imagine Trump not hogging the credit? I can’t.