President Joe Biden stunned pundits and politicians on Saturday when, at the end of a fiery speech in Warsaw, he seemed to endorse regime change in Russia, saying Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power.”
His speech caused a huge reaction, particularly among members of the media and public figures in areas of foreign policy and politics. That included a lot of people on social media comparing his commentary to Ronald Reagan’s historic “Tear Down This Wall” speech in Berlin in June of 1987.
If it isn’t clear which part of the speech the verified users were reacting to, it was spelled out explicitly several times. They were reacting very directly to his saying that Putin cannot remain in power, which was widely discussed as meaning a call for regime change.
However, after the White House walked that back, attempting to clarify that Biden meant Putin shouldn’t have power over neighboring countries, there were doubts about the comparison to Reagan’s speech. Some, like reporter Mark Knoller and pundit Larry Sabato, specifically moderated their own
Even after the White House walkback, CNN’s Jim Acosta, stressing that the line was not in the prepared remarks, characterized the President’s comment as saying Putin “should no longer be Russia’s leader.”
No doubt the discussion will continue as to the meaning, whether comparisons with Reagan’s speech continue or not.