President Biden is proud of the time he supposedly went toe to toe with Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling the former KGB agent he has “no soul.”
Biden has every reason to be proud, but why can’t he be similarly bold when it comes to China and Iran?
The president regaled ABC News anchor and former Clinton White House official George Stephanopoulos this week with the details of his aggressive encounter with Putin.
“Director of national intelligence came out with a report today saying that Vladimir Putin authorized operations during the election to under — denigrate you, support President Trump, undermine our elections, divide our society,” said Stephanopoulos. “What price must he pay?”
Biden responded, “He will pay a price. I, we had a long talk, he and I, when we — I know him relatively well. And I — the conversation started off, I said, ‘I know you, and you know me. If I establish this occurred, then be prepared.’”
“You said you know he doesn’t have a soul,” Stephanopoulos interrupted.
“I did say that to him, yes,” Biden responded. “And — and his response was, ‘We understand one another.’ It was — I wasn’t being a wise guy. I was alone with him in his office. And that — that’s how it came about. It was when President Bush had said, ‘I looked in his eyes and saw his soul.’”
For the record, this is an old story dating back to 2014.
“I said, ‘Looked in your eyes, and I don’t think you have a soul,’” the president told Stephanopoulos this week. “And [he] looked back, and he said, ‘We understand each other.’ Look, most important thing dealing with foreign leaders in my experience, and I’ve dealt with an awful lot of ’em over my career, is just know the other guy. Don’t expect somethin’ that you’re — that — don’t expect him to — or her to — voluntarily appear in the second editions of Profiles in Courage.”
Good for Biden (assuming it’s true), but one can’t help but wonder where this tough-talking, no-nonsense version of the president runs off to whenever it comes to dealing with Iran and China.
Biden is, after all, the same supposed devout Roman Catholic and allegedly “pro-choice” politician who told a Chinese audience in 2011 he is not interested in “second-guessing” the Chinese Communist Party’s one-child policy, which calls for forced abortions.
“As I was talking to some of your leaders, you share a similar concern here in China,” he said, referring to the looming issue of too few workers paying to subsidize too many retirees. “You have no safety net.”
He added during his address at Sichuan University, “Your policy has been one which I fully understand — I’m not second-guessing — of one child per family. The result being that you’re in a position where one wage earner will be taking care of four retired people. Not sustainable.”
The president said later during the 2020 election that it’s foolish to believe China “is going to eat our lunch” (Biden flip-flopped later on the question of whether China poses an economic and geopolitical threat to the United States, but this is a separate problem for a separate day).
Biden also served as vice president for all eight years of the Obama administration, whose foreign policy approach to Iran was just one long act of cowardice and deference.
If Biden can muster the courage to stare down Russia’s tin-pot strongman, what’s stopping the president from doing the same with the Chinese Communist Party and the mullahs?
