Biden’s Nothing-burger africa trip
Hello from a sunny but chilly Atlanta,
I've just returned to the States after a trip to South Africa with my daughters. On our return flight from Johannesburg, somewhere over the Atlantic, we must have passed by Air Force One, which was flying in the opposite direction from Washington to Angola with President Joe Biden. It's the first time an American President has visited Africa in ten years.
I covered all the previous US President's trips to the continent. I interviewed President George W. Bush in Zambia, Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton in South Africa and Mrs Obama in Botswana. I was there when Barack Obama came to Nelson Mandela's memorial service in Soweto. I was even in the Rose Garden at the White House when President Trump welcomed former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
Jonny-come-lately Biden arrived in Angola (not powerhouses Kenya, South Africa or Nigeria) in the dying day of his Presidency and promptly dozed off during a meeting about the railway he was supposed to be touting. Symbolic, indeed.
Biden's belated, half-asleep trip to Africa is a sign of America's weakness on the continent. (And, no doubt, a domestic distraction from answering questions about pardoning his son.) The US has lost significant opportunities - economic, political, military and strategic - to the Chinese and Russians during the Biden presidency. And let Middle Eastern proxy meddling spiral out of control.
Biden administration has failed to counter global geopolitical headwinds in Africa. Frankly, a second Trump presidency can't do any worse.
Take a listen to my take on Biden's oddly misplaced trip that smacks of nothingness.
Best,
Robyn
