European allies hope Democrats replace Biden to prevent Trump victory

Radek Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister, compared Mr Biden's situation to the decline of the Roman empire - Czarek Sokolowski/AP Photo

European allies have expressed anxiety that Joe Biden’s poor debate performance could mean victory for Donald Trump and reduction in US support for Ukraine.

The 81-year-old US president lost his train of thought and stumbled through Thursday night’s debate, which contained relatively little discussion of foreign policy.

Mr Biden accused Trump of cosying up to dictators such as Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un, and boasted of bringing together an alliance of 50 nations to back Kyiv in the war with Russia.

A poster mocking Joe Biden greeted Trump supporters who came to a campaign rally in Chesapeake, Virginia, after the debate - Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

Trump repeated his unlikely promise to bring an immediate end to the war in Ukraine and claimed conflict would never have broken out in Israel if he had been US president.

When asked by Mr Biden if he would pull the US out of Nato, the former president simply shrugged.

But the impression left in capitals around the world was of an elderly man struggling to finish his sentences, boding ill for his chances on Nov 5.

Radek Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, called on Mr Biden to stand down as he made a comparison to the collapse of the Roman empire.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Mr Sikorski, whose profile picture shows him with Mr Biden, compared the US president to the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.

Poland has been one of Ukraine’s firmest allies in the war, providing £3.6 billion in aid, or 0.7 per cent of its GDP, since 2022.

The US has provided £57 billion so far, or 0.31 per cent of GDP, and pledged more.

The Biden administration recently passed a bill providing Ukraine with an extra $60 billion, overcoming objections from Trump and his allies in Congress that slowed down the delivery of much-needed aid and weaponry.

In the debate, Trump said: “Biden is giving $200 billion or more to Ukraine. That’s a lot of money. Every time Zelensky comes to this country, he walks away with $60 billion. The greatest salesman ever.”

Oleksiy Goncharenko, a senior Ukrainian politician, told CNN: “We’re very concerned because we, more or less, understand what it means for Ukraine, a Biden presidency, and we really don’t know what it means for Ukraine, a Trump presidency.”

Joe Biden struggled to make his points during the debate with Donald Trump - Gerald Herbert/AP

He added: “It can be very good, it can be very bad. We just don’t know. And that’s definitely concerning.”

Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, was the only European leader to openly criticise Mr Biden’s debate performance.

“They certainly have a problem,” he said. “Yes, these reactions are unambiguous. I was afraid… in the sense: it was to be expected that in a direct confrontation, in a debate, it would not be easy for President Biden.”

Michael Link, a German official who oversees transatlantic relations, said the Democrats should “consider who is best placed to prevent Trump from returning to office using his usual methods – allegations, insults, distortions, outright lies.”

“I was shell-shocked. I could not believe my eyes,” one diplomat from Asia told CNN, while a Ukrainian envoy said they found Trump’s plans for their country “worrying”.

One European diplomat conceded it was a “bad night” for the Democratic candidate.

A second said: “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.”

If they can change the horse, they should

Another European diplomat admitted that they were hoping the Democrats will replace Mr Biden with another candidate.

“If they can change the horse, they should...if it was possible to call the governor of California [Gavin Newsom] and have Biden say, ‘You go and I’ll step out,’ that would be the right thing to do.”

The Telegraph has also spoken to Tory cabinet ministers who have similar concerns”.

One Cabinet minister told The Telegraph: “It is pretty f—---- scary that those are the best two [candidates] the world’s most powerful nation with a population of 350 million can come up with.”

On Mr Biden and the Democrats, the minister added: “If I was them, I would say switch him fast. Get someone, anyone, reasonable in there and they have a good chance to win.”

A second Cabinet minister said: “It is a fantastic opportunity because they will have to get rid of him and you will have a decent candidate who will blow Trump out of the water.

“You really can’t have someone who is barely coherent as president. The trouble is it draws comparisons to [Leonid] Brezhnev. It makes democracies look as out of touch in respect to their leaders as the totalitarian states.

“Clearly the Democrats can’t possibly keep him as the presidential candidate. They’ve got six weeks to find the answer to the question of who will be a young, vigorous, mainstream Democrat who will then clean up at the election.”

Mr Brezhnev, the Soviet Union’s general secretary of the Communist Party, was visibly ill before he died in office in 1982.

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