The President's Daily Brief - July 1st, 2024: Biden vs. Trump: World Reactions, US Military Moves, & Iran Election Results

Episode Date: July 1, 2024

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: The American people weren’t the only ones glued to their television sets for Thursday’s debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. I’ll bring you the reaction to last week’s debate from around the world. The US military is preparing for a conflict between Israel and Lebanon, repositioning assets closer to Israel and Lebanon in the event that all-out war breaks out in the coming days. French voters went to the polls yesterday in the nation’s snap parliamentary elections, handing yet another victory to the European right. And in today’s Back of the Brief, we’ve got the results from Iran’s Presidential election where the race’s sole reform candidate shocked many analysts, receiving more votes than any other candidate. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. Email: [e-mail] 🏅 Patriot Gold: https://www.patriotgoldgroup.com Say Mike Baker sent you Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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and Lebanon, repositioning assets closer to Israel and Lebanon in the event that all-out war breaks out in the coming days. Plus, French voters went to the polls yesterday, in the nation's snap parliamentary elections, handing yet another victory to the European right. And in today's back of the brief, we've got the results from Iran's presidential election, where the race's sole reform candidate surprised many analysts, receiving more votes than any other candidate. Now, it was a record low turnout by the Iranian public, signaling their continued frustration with the existing Iranian regime. But first, today's BDB spotlight. As you may have heard, President Biden and former President Trump faced off on Thursday in a

primetime showdown of sorts hosted by CNN. Now, we don't usually wade into presidential politics here on the PDB, but it's hard to say that the showdown was anything other than a terrible showing for the president, with even the most diehard Biden supporters struggling to find a silver lining. The president spent 90 minutes stammering, staring blankly across the stage, frequently losing a strain of thought and basically looking every bit of a man in his early 80s with diminishing capabilities. And frankly, I'm putting it kindly. The New York Times op-ed page exploded on Friday, just a sampling of some of the headlines. Thomas Friedman wrote, quote, President Biden is my friend. He must bow out of the race. Frank Bruny had a piece in

titled, quote, Biden cannot go on like this. And then there was Nicholas Christoph, his op-ed read, quote, President Biden, it's time to drop out. Hmm, not sugar-coding it. Biden himself even acknowledged the disastrous performance. During a rally in Raleigh, or Raleigh in Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday, Biden told the crowd, quote, I don't debate as well as I used to. But he added, I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. Biden's supporters were quick to point out that he looked more animated and spoke more lucidly on very good selling points during that North Carolina rally, which was held at around 1230 p.m. in the afternoon. Now, I only mentioned the time because according to a rather disconcerting report from Axios, the president's apparent bounceback might have something to do with the time of day that the rally was held. According to several aides, speaking to the outlet, Biden's mental acuity ebbs and flows throughout the

day. Here's what Axios wrote. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Biden is dependably engaged. That's really what you want out of a president, isn't it? And many of his public events in front of cameras are held within those hours. Outside of that time range, or while traveling abroad, Biden is more likely to have verbal miscues and become fatigued. Look, folks, I don't have to tell you this, but I guess I'm about to, but being the commander-in-chief is a 24-hour-a-day job. There's a reason that politicians always referenced that 3 a.m. wake-up call. The idea of a president who's only in top condition about, oh, 10 to 4 is what, six hours a day? Well, that has a lot of implications.

Now, one other point on this issue of President Biden's up and down, sometimes erratic performances in public. I would have thought, maybe it's just me, but I would have thought that curious objective journalists, and I assume there are still some out there, would be investigating the issue of, presidential medications. You would think that the American voters would have a right to know if or what medicinal cocktail as physicians might be mixing up for the president ahead of key public appearances. Look, the president's health. For any administration, this one, the previous one, the next one, it should be a transparent issue, particularly when dealing with older presidents or older candidates. Anyway, getting back to the CNN Fight Night event,

Americans weren't the only ones watching Thursday's debate. So were U.S. allies and adversaries, of course. A former senior British official who worked with Biden for many years told NBC News that he was struck by the president's, quote, physical deterioration, how weak his voice was, and how, quote, confused and inarticulate the replies were. He said, quote, I was absolutely horrified by how poorly he performed. I thought he might have moments when he would get a name or a date wrong

or use the wrong word, but that was just catastrophic. The Guardian in the U.K. called the debate a, quote, DefCon one moment for Democrats. In France, the nation's biggest newspaper, Le Monde, described, quote, the sinking of Joe Biden during the televised debate against Donald Trump, a debate that had, quote, turned into a disaster for the Democratic president, who appeared on several occasions overwhelmed, stumbling over words, unable to follow his train of thought, end quote.

Now, over in Russia, the Kremlin said Putin, quote, was too bored to wake up and watch the U.S. debate, but Russian state media had a field day highlighting Biden's, quote, half open mouth on blinking eyes and, quote, blank expression on his face. The criticism wasn't reserved exclusively for President Biden. In Israel, for example, liberal newspaper Horatz said that, quote, meandering Biden and pathological Trump had offered, quote, a sad night for American. And Chinese state-owned Beijing News stated that the debate exposed both candidates' shortcomings with a habitually confused Biden and Trump spreading rumors instead of answering questions directly. All right, coming up after the break, as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continues to intensify, the Pentagon is preparing for the conflict by moving assets closer to Lebanon and Israel. And French voters hand the right another victory in the nation's snap parliamentary election. It was a gamble taken by President McQuil, and it looks to have backfired. I'll have those

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Welcome back to the PDB. Israel and Hezbollah continued to trade strikes over the weekend. Israel's military said Friday that about 25 rockets were launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel, damaging a building and setting fires. Israel responded by bombarding the Hezbollah launch sites with artillery and airstrikes. With a war between Israel and Hezbollah on the horizon, the Pentagon is now positioning U.S. military assets closer to the two nations to prepare for a large-scale evacuation of American citizens. According to U.S. defense officials, the USS Wasp, an amphibious

assault ship, and a contingent of U.S. Marines have moved into the Eastern Mediterranean to prepare for what's known as a military-assisted departure. That's just what it sounds like, basically, an operation where the military assists in the evacuation of civilians from a foreign country due to imminent threats or ongoing conflicts. This usually means that the military works together with the State Department and other agencies to get American citizens and other eligible people out of dangerous situations and obviously to a more secure location. They often use ships like the WASP and aircraft for these operations and military personnel to deal with tricky and quickly changing security situations.

The ship that's been deployed, the USS WASP, has offensive and surveillance capabilities. It can deploy F-35s and U.S. long-range stealth fighters, so it's obviously well-stocked for any contingency. The ship is also being used, of course, to project U.S. power to hopefully deter any escalation. The Marines on board the ship from the 24th Expeditionary Unit are specifically trained to assist civilians in escaping dangerous situations, and as a matter of fact, they were the tip of the spear the last time Americans had to be quickly evacuated from Lebanon all the way back in 2006, when they helped to extract nearly 15,000 U.S. citizens during the previous conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Additionally, the U.S. is coordinating with allies for potential evacuations and military operations. According to the U.S. State Department, as of 2022,

an estimated 86,000 Americans reside in Lebanon. On Thursday, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut sent out an alert to Americans to reconsider travel to Lebanon. Yeah, that's probably a good idea. The embassy warned that, quote, the security environment remains complex and can change quickly. And for that, well, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut wins today's PDB statement of the obvious award. Many aid organizations have already evacuated their staff from Lebanon as the situation worsens. And the U.S. isn't obviously the only nation preparing for the worst. According to the CBC, Canada is also preparing contingency plans to evacuate about 20,000 Canadians from Lebanon. Okay, I want to turn your attention to the latest on the French elections, where voters propelled

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally Party, or the RN Party, to a big victory in the first round of parliamentary elections, positioning France's far-right for a potential historic takeover. The outcome dealt a significant blow to centrist President Emmanuel Macron, who had called the snap election hoping to stem the right-wing momentum. Projections by the Guardian show the far-right National Party, guided by Le Pen and her protégé, Jordan Baudela, securing the top spy with 34% of the national vote. The new popular front and alliance of leftist parties placed second, gathering 29%, while Macron's centrist-together alliance, well, they lagged with roughly 22%. In France's two-round voting system, a candidate needs over 50% of the vote to win outright in the

first round, and if not, the top two contenders proceed to a second round. Macron has urged voters to rally against the far right in the second round. Now, voter turnout was notably high, nearing 60% before polls closed. That's the highest since 1986. The RN party's surge since the last parliament election is also unprecedented. The party has taken almost 12 million votes in this first round compared to the 4.2 million votes that it took back in 2022. Now, despite the outpouring of support for the RN party, the election's outcome remains uncertain with another week of intense campaigning and, frankly, political horse trading, before the decisive second round vote this coming Sunday. Projections show the RN narrowly falling short of the majority of seats in Parliament.

If it can expand its lead and win a majority in the second round of voting on July 7th, it could replace Macron's pro-Europe, pro-business agenda, with its own populist, Euro-sceptic and anti-immigration platform. Macron has ruled out any resignation, so he will be staying on as president until his term expires in 2007, but he wouldn't be able to do much to prevent the adoption of nationalist laws. Alternatively, if the second round doesn't result in a clear majority, well, it could paralyze French politics and make it almost impossible for the lower House of Parliament to agree on a new government. Girard Arro, a former French ambassador to the U.S., said, quote, the French crisis has only just started, end quote. Sunday's projected election results are likely to cause alarm in many

European capitals regarding whether a far-right win might reduce support for Ukraine and undermine Europe's stance on Russia. Le Pen is already challenging Macron's hold on French foreign policy and defense, suggesting that the president play a more honorary role. as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Sunday's vote was a referendum on Macron, and he's the first modern president elected outside the traditional center-left and center-right parties. And with the center imploding, Macron's popularity has suffered, leaving France on the brink of, well, let's call it political upheaval. All right, coming up in today's back of the brief, we've got the results from the presidential election in Iran, which is now preparing for a runoff later this week.

I'll be right back. In today's back of the brief, I wanted to give you an update on the Iranian presidential election, which is heading into a second phase this week. Now, the runoff vote is set for the 5th of July, and we'll see the moderate, I've put that in air quotes candidate, Massoud Pasechkin, face off against Saeed Jalili. He's a candidate closely tied to the Supreme Leader's establishment and very much the hardline conservative. This showdown follows Friday's results where none of the candidates were able to

to secure a majority. The Interior Ministry reports that out of over 25 million ballots cast moderate Peshchian came out slightly ahead with over 10 million votes to Jalili's 9.4 million votes. Now, the turnout for this election was notably low, with only around 40% of the over 61 million eligible voters casting ballots, and that's the lowest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini called for a maximum turnout reflecting the importance of this election for the regime. Instead, well, the Supreme Leader got a record low turnout, the result of Iranian voters' apathy and, frankly, belief that nothing changes as long as the current regime of Mullahs and IRGC remains in place. A win for

Jalili could escalate tensions with the West because of his close ties to the Supreme Leader. On the other side, Pasechian found a different path, openly criticizing Iran's so-called morality police and their enforcement of strict dress codes on women calling their actions immoral. He said, quote, we will respect the hijab law, but there should never be an intrusive or inhumane behavior toward women. Poschkian's comments follow the 22 protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Masa Amini, who was detained by the morality police for allegedly violating the hijab law. The protests saw hundreds killed and thousands detained.

However, some prominent opposition figures are continued. their calls for an election boycott. They argue that the so-called moderate possession, despite appearing reformist, is just another government-approved candidate, which he is, reflecting public mistrust towards the political establishment. Given that the Supreme Leader is 85 years old, the July 5th election is crucial, as the next president may be in a position to influence the succession process. With no real reformist candidates in the race, it does seem likely that Khomeini will get a loyal president to ensure a smooth transition. Of course, anyway, the Supreme Leader holds ultimate authority, and it's unlikely that the

presidential election will change around stance on any major issues, like its nuclear program or the objectives and activities of its various terrorist proxies in the region. Still, the president can occasionally play a role in day-to-day governance, so we'll keep you updated on the results. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief from Monday, 1 July. Remember, to listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdb premium.com. Look how simple that would be. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back later today with the PDB afternoon bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.