With A Spine Of Steel, Joe Biden Defends America And Puts Putin In His Place

Biden showed Putin that there is a new president in town by telling Putin that he could have hit him even harder with sanctions, but chose not to do right now.

Video:

Biden warns Putin that if he continues to interfere with US democracy, more punishment will be coming pic.twitter.com/4p18jcHW6N

— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) April 15, 2021

Biden said:

When President Putin called me in January, after I was sworn in, to congratulate me, I told him that my administration would be looking very carefully now that we had access to all the data and at the issues that to assess Russia’s role and then determine what response we would make. When we spoke again this week, I told him that we would shortly be responding in a measured and proportionate way because we had concluded that they had interfered in the election and SolarWinds was totally inappropriate.

Today, I approved several steps, including the expulsion of several Russian officials as a consequence of their actions. I’ve also signed an executive order authorizing new measures, including sanctions to address specific harmful actions that Russia has taken against U.S. Interests. I was clear with President Putin that we could have gone further, but I chose not to do so. I chose to be proportionate. The United States is not looking to kick off a cycle of escalation and conflict with Russia. We want a stable, predictable relationship. If Russia continues to interfere with our democracy, I’m prepared to take further actions to respond.

Beneath the diplomatic sounding tone was a straight-up message to Putin.

The message was, I could have gone further to punish you right now. I chose not to, but if you keep trying to interfere in US democracy, more pain will be coming.

President Biden is making it clear that he is in charge. He has the ability to hurt Putin where it hurts and wreck Russia’s fragile economy. There will be no more running wild. Actions will have consequences. Putin’s puppet has been replaced by a president who is making it clear that if Russia messes with the United States, it will pay.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Follow and Like PoliticusUSA on Facebook

Mr. Easley is the founder/managing editor, who is White House Press Pool, and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association