As a forty mile long convoy of Russian tanks bears down on Kiev, Ukraine, Americans are reminded that elections have consequences.  In a stinging rebuke of President Joe Biden as commander in chief, more than six in ten Americans, including nearly four in ten Democrats, believe that if former President Donald J. Trump was currently occupying the Oval Office, Vladimir Putin would not be currently attempting to occupy Ukraine.  The same poll by the Harvard Center for American Political Studies finds that nearly six in ten Americans believe, fairly or not, that the Russian president has been emboldened by what he perceives as weakness in the White House.  Just 42% of the public, according to a poll from CNN, «trusts Biden to make the right decisions regarding the situation in Ukraine.»

One year into his presidency, the candidate who campaigned from his basement is struggling to command respect from the public.  The left leaning National Public Radio reports that more than half of Americans say that Biden’s presidency has been, thus far, a «failure,» along with half who say that the Democrat who promised calm, after the tumult of Trump, has done more to divide the country than unite it.  As CNN reports, «there's little sign that the public is rallying around» Biden in this moment of international crisis.  The state of the union remains skeptical.