If your only sources of news came from the major broadcast and cable networks, excluding Fox News, you’d think Joe Biden just had the first major triumph of his presidency. According to CNN, he defiantly stared down Vladamir Putin in a show of force not seen since Reagan’s speech in then-West Germany. In reality, Biden was just too senile to understand it was time to look at the cameras.

(related Joe Biden’s G7 Presser Was an Absolute Train Wreck on the World Stage)

Here’s a taste of the fawning to get the ball rolling on this article.

Biden looked Putin in the eyes, Putin immediately looked away. https://t.co/YCJJtB7PYq

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) June 16, 2021

via @MaxBoot –> Biden wiped the smirk off Putin’s face https://t.co/0PBABUBsPU

— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) June 16, 2021

Of course, what you see on left-wing cable news, as per our usual arrangement, is not real life. Rather, it’s a carefully curated propaganda effort meant to keep Biden from looking like the unqualified chump of a leader he is.

That leads me to my major point here — Joe Biden got absolutely rolled by Putin at their summit and everyone knows it. It’s just a matter of whether everyone will admit it.

Seriously, let’s look at the facts. Biden, for reasons that make sense to no one who has any understanding of foreign policy, decided to go into the meeting with no real plan at all. What was on the table to be gained? What were we hoping to get the opposition to give up? These are important questions that should be asked anytime a president holds a summit with an adversary. Yet, it was clear Biden’s only real plan was to wear aviators and eat ice cream.

Putin, on the other hand, clearly had goals. He got to present himself as an ascendant leader in the face of the bumbling Biden. Further, Putin was afforded a golden opportunity to hold an hour-long press conference where he chided the United States and generally ran circles around the unprepared reporters asking him questions. Truth be told, Russia is a third-world dump with a GDP less than Italy. But after this past week, they once again were afforded the position of a “super-power,” even if a faux one.

Let’s also note that on substance, Biden folded like a wash-and-wear suit in the face of the Russian strongman. Putin’s biggest priority, not just now but for the last decade, has been to finish Nord Stream 2. Donald Trump had placed sanctions preventing the completion of the strategic and lucrative pipeline from Russia to Europe. Yet, for absolutely nothing in return, Biden just handed it to Putin while committing the United States at NATO to pay for Germany’s defense from the very enemy they are enriching. What great diplomacy, right?

If that weren’t bad enough, Biden then gave Putin an actual list of major targets in the United States to not attack with cyberattacks. In doing so, he might as well have hung a giant “please hack us” on America’s most important infrastructure.

Biden was embarrassingly unprepared for his supposed showdown with Putin. Just as bad, his weakness was apparent for all of our other adversaries to view. Does anyone think China fears Biden at this point? “But he wears aviators and talks tough,” the media say as they melt into a giant pool of partisan goo.

In the end, empty words matter not in the face of actions and results. That was a lesson the left and some on the right were unwilling to learn during the Trump era. Being “tough” in your rhetoric is meaningless if you are handing your enemy everything they want. That’s exactly what Biden did. He performed for the shallow, squealing hacks at CNN, but he gave into Putin where it really counted. Now, we will pay the price for his weakness.