The most significant thing about President Biden’s Thursday press conference following the NATO summit was that while he was doing it, his opponent in the race was meeting with one of Vladimir Putin’s errand boys at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

That errand boy, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, had spent the past week meeting with Putin in Moscow and Xi Jinping in Beijing and had wanted to complete his world tour with America’s number one fan of authoritarianism and Putin’s number one useful idiot.

In contrast, President Biden delivered in an hour long press conference a strong defense of the NATO alliance that Biden’s opponent has denigrated and threatened to pull out of. Biden condemned Vladimir Putin for the monster he is, even as it is clear that his opponent and Orbán were not only eager to do the Kremlin’s bidding but they were also determined to contrast themselves with the pro-democracy, pro-Ukraine, anti-Russia leaders who made up all the other attendees at the NATO summit.

While media outlets started focusing on Biden gaffes even before the press conference—citing his introduction of Ukraine’s President Zelensky that featured the U.S. president saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin…” the gaffes were hardly the most notable feature of Biden’s performance. And yes, there was more than one gaffe. He also referred to his own running mate as “Vice President Trump.” And he misspoke about his destinations on some trips.

But that was all superficial. It was exciting to........

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