In early July 2024, the United States hosted all 32 member nations of NATO at the NATO summit to celebrate the alliance’s 75th anniversary. According to the NATO homepage, the summit had three main objectives: strengthening NATO’s deterrence and defense, bolstering long-term support to Ukraine, and deepening NATO’s partnerships. With the future of support for Ukraine as a subject, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attended and spoke in front of foreign leaders. President Zelensky urged the crowd to continue supporting his nation in its time of war and to act promptly before the November election. CNN reported that the US made significant promises to support Ukraine during the summit, including plans to supply the country with new air defenses. However, Zelenskyy’s speech was outshined when President Biden introduced him as “President Putin” to the crowd, which became the media highlight of the summit. 

Furthermore, the strength of President Biden at the summit was highly anticipated as his stance in this political atmosphere has been questioned. At the summit, he misplaced President Zelenskyy’s name and referred to his vice president Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump.” These common slip-ups have forced other NATO leaders to continuously avoid questions and concerns about President Biden’s ability to lead another 4-year term.

As reported by the Associated Press, French President Emmanuel Macron said, “We can all have a slip of the tongue. It’s happened to me. I’m sure it will happen again tomorrow, and I’d ask you to be just as kind to me.” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also avoided questions regarding President Biden’s slip-ups by praising the activities completed at the summit, saying, “I want to look at the substance of what’s been achieved over these two days,” as reported by Associated Press. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also came to Biden’s defense by agreeing with Macron, saying slips of the tongue are inevitable. 

Ukrainians have also been forgiving of Biden’s slip-ups; however, they have become fearful that if Biden begins to lose the trust of American citizens and Donald Trump steps into the presidency, what the future of American support to Ukraine will look like and how much it will change given Trump’s past comments regarding NATO.

Even after a few European leaders stepped up in defense of President Biden, he dropped out of the Presidential race on Sunday, July 21. In a statement posted to X, Biden said, “It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term”.