In a single sentence tucked on the end of a passionate speech in defence of democracy, the US President may well have made Western efforts to end Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine even more challenging.
“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power”, Joe Biden declared in apparently unscripted remarks to an audience in Poland and broadcast worldwide.
It seemed to signal a dramatic shift in US policy on Russia, suggesting an open desire for new leadership at the top of the Kremlin.
The White House moved quickly to try to contain the damage, issuing a statement saying Mr Biden was not calling for regime change.
But he had already at the very least ceded a gift to Moscow’s propaganda machine, which will doubtless use his call for an end to the Putin-era to amplify false claims that the United States and its NATO allies pose an existential threat to the country.
The phrase “regime change” has particularly difficult connotations for Washington after its disastrous 2003 war in Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein.
That invasion, based on mistaken intelligence about weapons of mass destruction, is used repeatedly by Russia to counter criticism over its actions in Ukraine.
In a heartbeat, the US commander in chief gave this deflective defence new currency.
His words – despite the White House clarification – will likely also fuel President Putin’s own paranoia about the West’s true intentions towards him and his powerbase, potentially making it even trickier to convince Russia to change course on Ukraine and end the fighting.
By revealing his personal views on who should or should not hold power in Russia, Mr Biden could in addition harden the opinion of Russian people against the United States, even among those who privately agree.
The image of the leader of one country publicly telling the people of another who should lead them is never a good one in the 21st century, regardless of how right she or he might be.
Information – or disinformation – is as much of a weapon as bombs and bullets, no more so than at a time of a real, hot, fighting war.
It means every word spoken by America’s president should be designed to strengthen the side he is on, in this case Ukraine’s as well as the entire community of liberal democracies that has united against Mr Putin’s war.
The rest of the more than 3,300-word speech was much more aligned with that goal.
Mr Biden denounced the Russian invasion, said it was based on obscene lies and had already been a “strategic failure” for Moscow.
He warned President Putin in his most forceful language yet not to threaten a “single inch” of NATO territory.
Ukraine is not a member of the alliance but neighbouring states like Poland that are part of the club have become increasingly nervous they could become the next target of Russia’s aggression.
Mr Biden also appealed directly to ordinary Russians, saying you “are not our enemy” and this war “is not worthy of you”.
The entire speech was framed around the theme of a generational struggle between “democracy and autocracy. Between liberty and repression. Between a rules-based order and one governed by brute force”.
Mr Biden rallied the Western world to stand united against Russia’s actions in Ukraine, warning that the invasion threatened to tip Europe back into decades of war as happened last century.
“We cannot go back to that. We cannot,” Mr Biden said.
“The gravity of the threat is why the response of the West has been so swift and so powerful and so unified, unprecedented and overwhelming.
“Swift and punishing costs are the only things that are going to get Russia to change its course.”
And he made clear that this fight would be long and hard, requiring meaningful action to secure the defence of democracy and freedom, rather than simply relying on “rhetorical flourish of ennobling words”.
The president may well be wishing his own verbal flourish about his desire for President Putin’s political demise does not come back to haunt him, though, as he returns to Washington.
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