A key takeaway from President Joe Biden's national address about Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, as Katie highlighted earlier, was that he will continue to impose sanctions, but is stopping just short of the most serious kind. The president took questions this time, though that' not so say it went well. In addition to many less-than-inspiring exchanges with reporters on the Russian leader, as Matt highlighted, Biden also made some startling points in stark contrast to claims others, including his own Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have made.
"No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening. This could take time, and we have to show resolve so he knows what's coming and so the people of Russia know what he's brought on them," Pres. Biden tells @CeciliaVega about Pres. Putin. https://t.co/rOe0KWORAJ pic.twitter.com/GM8aSPHbgr
— ABC News (@ABC) February 24, 2022
"Sir, sanctions clearly have not been enough to deter Vladimir Putin to this point," ABC News's Cecilia Vega pointed out in her question. "What is going to stop him? How and when does this end?"
Biden went on to casually claim that "no one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening," as he also pointed out "this is going to take time. And we have to show resolve so he knows what’s coming and so the people of Russia know what he’s brought on them. That’s what this is all about."
The president also seemed to dismiss the effect that sanctions would have. "This is going to take time. It’s not going to occur — he’s going to say, 'Oh my God, these sanctions are coming. I’m going to stand down.'" Biden went on to suggest what Putin's aims may be, then. "He’s going to test the resolve of the West to see if we stay together. And we will. We will and it will impose significant costs on him."
Wait! Did @POTUS @JoeBiden just say that nobody expected sanctions to stop Putin? Because Sec. Antony Blinken told all of us, as did other admin staff, that sanctions weren’t imposed sooner because they wanted them to have a deterrent effect…?
— Rebecca Downs (@RebeccaRoseGold) February 24, 2022
Less than a week ago, Blinken appeared on a multitude of Sunday shows, where he told each host that asked that sanctions were not at that time being imposed because they were meant to have a deterrent effect. As I've covered, this narrative has been cited by Blinken for weeks. This talking point narrative was repeated by Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby on "Fox News Sunday."
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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) made his own appearance on "Fox News Sunday," and blasted Biden outright, saying "Joe Biden becoming president is the best thing that ever happened, tragically, for Vladimir Putin." The senator also reminded host Bill Hemmer that last month he had introduced a bill that received a majority of support in the Senate to impose sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, with a vote of 55-44. It failed to overcome the filibuster, though.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had been asking for sanctions to be imposed.
Biden ultimately imposed those sanctions on Nord Stream 2 on Wednesday, as Katie covered. Cruz praised the president at the time for taking such a step, though he ultimately continued to call out "weakness" from the United States towards Putin.
CONNECTING THE DOTS: @SenTedCruz says world facing Putin's wrath because of Biden's 'catastrophic' errors. https://t.co/npdnnXBv5n pic.twitter.com/qupeRa3QbK
— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 24, 2022
Putin was emboldened to invade Ukraine because of catastrophic mistakes made by Joe Biden. Weakness invites aggression.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 24, 2022
The only things that will give our adversaries pause are strength and resolve, and Biden-Harris officials seem incapable of showing even the slightest hint. pic.twitter.com/s8NitRbaU2
The unfortunate reality is that the only path to real deterrence is by credibly signaling consequences — and then showing the strength and resolve to carry them out.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 24, 2022
Unfortunately, the Biden White House either won't or can't understand that. pic.twitter.com/g5HXKi8m4g
After Biden's address, a piece from Cristina Marcos and Mike Lillis was published for The Hill which highlighted lawmakers calling on the president to impose harsher sanctions. These include Democrats, too, such as Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez and Rep. Bill Pascrell, both of New Jersey.
Thursday's address got off to a late start, at 1:43pm, as has also been typical of this administration. It was initially supposed to be at 12pm noon on Thursday, as Matt highlighted, which was late enough, considering the invasion of Ukraine had happened approximately 12 hours prior.
