'Concern Is Not A Strategy': Mitch McConnell Drops The Hammer On Biden Admin's Foreign Policy

3 months ago

During remarks on the Senate floor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) spoke about the foreign policy of the Biden Administration.

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Transcript

00:00The partners, puppets, and proxies of America's biggest adversaries spent a busy weekend repressing

00:12and killing innocent people.

00:15On Saturday in the Golan Heights, Israeli Druze children were playing soccer when his

00:21ball launched a rocket made in Iran and killed 12 of them.

00:29And on Sunday, Venezuela's communist dictator hijacked an election promising the suffering

00:35people of his country even more brutal days to come.

00:42We live in a world where thuggish repression and terrorist violence are increasingly common.

00:51Tragically, the slaughter of innocent children by terrorists is not surprising.

00:58Neither, unfortunately, is a stooge of the world's most powerful authoritarians tightening

01:05his own chokehold on power.

01:10But one thing doesn't ever get less shocking or alarming.

01:18The continued naivete with which our leaders respond.

01:26Secretary of State says the Biden-Harris administration has, quote, serious concerns that the results

01:34announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people.

01:42Well, many of us have serious and longstanding concerns that the administration does not

01:50know how to credibly change the calculus of America's adversaries.

01:57Autocrats don't care about disapproving looks from Western diplomats.

02:06Don't believe me?

02:07Ask the mullahs in Tehran how worried they were about stern condemnations of their ongoing

02:15nuclear enrichment efforts.

02:19We certainly don't have to wonder whether promises of sanctions relieved from Washington

02:23succeeded in convincing Maduro to permit a free and fair election.

02:32Concern is not a strategy.

02:36And speeches, for that matter, are not policy, especially when they're not backed by facts

02:44and by force.

02:47Last week, President Biden tooted the horn of his own foreign policy and declared proudly

02:52the United States is not at war anywhere in the world.

02:57Well, that was news to America's service members deployed in harm's way.

03:06The very next day, a ran-back terrorist attacked U.S. personnel in Iraq and in Syria again

03:14for months at his orders.

03:17U.S. Navy destroyers have expended more than a billion dollars in high-tech munitions to

03:24intercept the Houthis' Iran-made arsenal of missiles and drones in exchange for no measurable

03:32increase in deterrence.

03:36It's well and good to insist that America's not at war, but a growing list of authoritarians,

03:41rogues, and strongmen are at war with us.

03:46President's failure to respond decisively to threats may have let him believe we're

03:52not at war, but the same failure has emboldened our adversaries time and again.

04:00The Biden-Harris administration has limited support, agonized over perceived risk of escalation,

04:10and tried to micromanage the way our friends in Ukraine and Israel actually defend themselves.

04:17In Secretary Blinken's first public comment after Hezbollah's most recent strike, he insisted,

04:22quote, we don't want to see it spread.

04:26Well, neither did Israel on October 6th, before Hamas spread murderous violence into peaceful

04:36kibbutzes in violation of a ceasefire agreement.

04:42And neither does Israel now, as its military continues to focus on finishing the job against

04:47Hamas and building the pressure necessary to secure a stable peace.

04:54There's simply no question that Iran and its proxies are the instigators and aggressors

05:01in this conflict.

05:04They have planned and prepared this violence for years.

05:09And they will escalate, spread, and perpetuate it until it is no longer in their interest

05:16to do so.

05:18If the so-called international community wants an end to the war in Gaza and the chaos in

05:23the region, they can do more than issue statements expressing concern about escalation.

05:31It's past time for civilized countries to present Tehran with cold consequences, with

05:36heavy pressure on the leaders responsible for the campaign of death and destruction

05:43across the Middle East.

05:45Instead, Western leaders have repeatedly blamed the victim.

05:52This is the message sent by Democrats who boycotted the joint address to Congress by

05:57the democratically elected prime minister of Israel.

06:02This is the message sent by their presumptive presidential nominee who, instead of extending

06:07a hand of solidarity, pressured a friend and ally to cease military operations to defend

06:14itself.

06:17This sort of pressure will please the American left.

06:22But restraining Israel also pleases the butchers in Tehran.

'Concern Is Not A Strategy': Mitch McConnell Drops The Hammer On Biden Admin's Foreign Policy

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