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Old Joe Biden, who is, you may recall, still ostensibly the president of the United States, has journeyed to Lima, Peru to attend the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference. Such conferences generally feature a lot of mind-numbing jabber while the real action takes place off the record. Then all the global top dogs gather for a group photo to show how much they love one another, and head back home until the next one.

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You’ve seen the pictures, not only from APEC, but from many other conferences like it. The president of the United States, as the leader of the world’s lone superpower, is always front and center. This has been true for as long as such conferences have been held. But not anymore. At the big photo shoot at APEC Saturday, Old Joe was relegated to the back row, standing between Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra of Thailand and President Lương Cường of Vietnam.

Now, it’s clear from even a cursory scan of the photo that the distinguished world leaders are simply arranged in alphabetical order by country. That’s why we see in the front row, from left to right, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, Canada’s vacant-faced authoritarian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Chilean President Gabriel Boric, and then Xi Jinping of China. So you see, Old Joe ended up way in the back because “United States” comes alphabetically between “Thailand” and “Vietnam.” Yes, next to Xi was Peru’s President Dina Boluarte, who was the only one out of alphabetical order by country, but Peru was hosting the conference, so Boluarte evidently thought she had pride of place.

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So that’s all there is to it: just the luck of the alphabetical draw, right? Probably not. It would be extraordinarily coincidental for APEC suddenly to decide that what they really need to do is line up all the world leaders alphabetically by country just when China is endeavoring to expand its influence worldwide, and the alphabetical arrangement just happens to put Xi front and center. It would likewise be a remarkable coincidence for the U.S. to be relegated to the back row at precisely the time that American power and prestige are less respected than they’ve been at any time since before World War I — thanks to Old Joe Biden. 

If you’re skeptical, check out APEC’s 2023 photo. There is no hint of an alphabetical arrangement by country. Old Joe is standing proudly in the center of the front row, affecting the most convincing friendly, and confident look that he can muster. Xi is way over to the side, next to the callow Trudeau. 

Old Joe’s demotion did not go unnoticed. The New York Post reported Saturday that “the petty humiliation of America’s leader” — yeah, they really called him that — “came ahead of his Saturday afternoon meeting with Xi — who has been feted with relative pomp throughout the APEC event in Lima as thanks for his country’s financing of a large new port on Peru’s coast.”

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The Post went on to note that Old Joe’s “increasing irrelevance domestically and on the world stage has earned him the moniker of ‘super lame duck.’” Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) noted that Biden’s back row placement showed that contrary to his administration’s boasts that Old Joe would restore America’s prestige worldwide, today’s global leaders don’t “take Biden seriously anymore.” She added: “They probably should have invited President-elect Trump down — I’m sure he would’ve been in the center of the photo with Xi Jinping. I don’t think these international players take Biden seriously anymore ever since [Rep.] Nancy Pelosi threw him out.”

     Related: Pelosi’s Latest Big Lie Is Too Much Even for the Washington Post 

Alas, the decline started long before. Biden likely began to lose the respect of his international peers due to the catastrophically botched withdrawal from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021. Since then, the world’s leaders are unlikely to have failed to note his repeated betrayals of one of America’s most reliable allies, Israel, and his craven financing of both the Islamic Republic of Iran and of the Palestinian Arabs, despite the fact that both are determined to destroy the Jewish state.

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Under the misrule of Old Joe Biden and those who are pulling his strings, America has become a third-rate power. The decline has been unmistakable, but it is not irreversible, and the incoming president has made the cornerstone of his entire agenda his attempt to make America great again. One thing is certain: if Trump attends APEC 2025, he’ll be front and center in the photo.