Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said during an interview on Thursday that Joe Biden’s inability to express a coherent message on foreign policy has become such a national security risk, he should probably not be allowed “to speak or appear in public.”
Paul appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss a wide range of topics, including Biden’s long and meandering press conference Wednesday afternoon.
“You know, it’s rambling and disjointed enough that it’s really hard to get a coherent message out of it,” Paul told Hewitt. The senator stressed that it is of the utmost importance for a world leader to know what and what not to say.
“There are things you do to try to influence other countries,” he explained. “And they are influenced by your public pronouncements. And in some ways, that’s all you have. You have the threat of military might, but you also have the influence of what you say.”
Biden, who appeared tired, confused, and disoriented at times throughout the presser, at one point speculated that Russia will soon invade Ukraine. He also suggested that our NATO allies are not fully united on how to handle tensions between Ukraine and Russia, and that a “minor incursion” by Russia into Ukraine’s sovereign territory would be tolerated by the West.
Administration officials quickly put out statements to the media walking back Biden’s remarks, but the damage was done. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, a ruthless exploiter of weakness, had already seen Biden’s mixed messages.
“So you can’t be sending a muddled message or a message of well, it may not be too big a deal, you know, if there’s a Russian incursion,” Paul told Hewitt. “So I think that it’s a mistake for him to be out in front. It’s dangerous to the country. And I think we’re stuck with him, in all likelihood, until 2024. And I think it would be good for the country for him not to speak and not to appear in public.”