Joining Sean Hannity on Tuesday night to discuss the day's news, Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) took President Biden to task — as only he can — for his actions toward Russia as President Putin continues to amass troops and military equipment on the border with Ukraine.
"This is a serious matter," Senator Kennedy noted. "What President Putin has done is implement the single-largest military build up in Europe since the Cold War. President Putin is a wolf — I think he thinks that President Biden is weak," Sen. Kennedy explained. "I think he thinks President Biden is a sheep in sheep's clothing, particularly after Afghanistan — and weakness invites the wolves, it's just that simple," he added.
Kennedy is, as usual, correct. The world — especially America's foes — watched along with the rest of the world as Biden's exit from Afghanistan went from bad to worse to terrible. In the wake of Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan, China stepped up its harassment of Taiwan and Russia ramped up its aggression and military build-up along its border with Ukraine.
Following Tuesday's high-stakes call with Putin, @JohnKennedyLA says Biden needs to toughen up and show Russia we mean business by sanctioning "the living hell out of Nord Stream 2" and, if Russia invades Ukraine, cutting Putin off "like a dead stump." pic.twitter.com/iAI0kCtDOF
— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) December 8, 2021
As for what President Biden should do following the roughly two-hour virtual meeting with Putin on Tuesday that failed to secure assurances from Putin that he wouldn't invade Ukraine or would be a better neighbor, Senator Kennedy suggested three actions.
First, Sen. Kennedy said that "President Biden needs to call President Putin back and say, 'Look, if you invade Ukraine, Ukraine's gonna fight back and we're going to put the full force of the United States behind them in terms of arming them and we're going to ask all of our allies to make sure they're properly armed too," though which the United States will "at least find out who our friends are."
Second, "Biden needs to tell Mr. Putin that, if you do this, we're going to eliminate you from the international financial system," Sen. Kennedy said. "Not a sanction here and there, we're going to cut you off — like a dead stump — and we're going to start by expelling you from the society of worldwide inter-bank financial telecommunications system so he can't even transfer money," Sen. Kennedy added.
Lastly, Kennedy explained, "Biden needs to tell President Putin, 'Look I made a mistake — I tried to be a nice guy and said I wouldn't sanction Nord Stream 2. I was wrong. Whether you invade or not, beginning tomorrow, I am going to sanction the living hell out of Nord Stream 2," Sen. Kennedy explained. "Germany's going to be upset — I love Germany — but in this instance they need to call someone who cares. We need to sanction Nord Stream 2 so President Putin knows we are serious," he said.
As Townhall covered Tuesday, Biden's virtual meeting with Putin didn't seem to convince Russia to back down from its maneuvers and didn't seem to give the White House much hope of averting an invasion, either. As Katie reported, the Biden administration is preparing for the potential evacuation of Americans from Ukraine.