After making a statement that made many foreign policy onlookers freak out this past weekend, President Joe Biden was rightly excoriated by many figures in the Republican Party for suggesting that regime change is in the cards for Russia.
At a press conference on March 29, 2022, Biden doubled down on his previous comment that Putin “cannot remain in power” and indicated that it was not a gaffe.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was highly critical of Biden’s remarks.
On “Jesse Watters Primetime”, Paul said that Biden’s escalatory comments are frightening US allies and strategic partners. Jesse Watters called attention to how the French government has pushed back against Biden for his comments.
“I wouldn’t use this type of wording because I continue to hold discussions with President Putin,” French President Emmanuel Macron stated on March 27 on French TV. “We want to stop the war that Russia has launched in Ukraine without escalation — that’s the objective.”
Paul reiterated that he and the majority of his congressional colleagues aren’t trying to remove Putin from power, which Fox News noted “has been in the positions of power, either as prime minister or president, since 1999.”
“A lot of times when you’re around somebody who’s in cognitive decline, you find yourself trying to help them with a sentence, trying to help them complete it… but we shouldn’t have to do that for the commander-in-chief,” he stated.
“And, it is actually a national security risk because he’s sending signals that no one in their right mind would want to send to Russia at this point. We aren’t trying to replace Putin in Russia. We aren’t trying to have regime change. We’re not sending troops into Ukraine, and we’re not going to respond in kind with chemical weapons,” Paul continued. The Kentucky senator was referencing the two statements Biden made during a visit to Poland last week. The White House subsequently played damage control and tried to walk back Biden’s pro-regime change comments.
Paul is correct to attack Biden’s comments. They do nothing to ease tensions with Russia. There needs to be stronger leadership in the US that boldly proclaims that NATO expansion is dead, cuts off all military aid to Ukraine, and allows for Russia and Ukraine to settle this conflict on their own without the US trying to butt in.
Such changes can only happen with a new set of leaders in charge in Washington, who foreign policy outlook is guided by realism and restraint. Getting there will be a tough endeavor, no questions asked.
