McCaul: Blame Biden’s Weakness for Putin’s Nuke Threats

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans to put nuclear weapons in Belarus is another result of President Joe Biden’s projection of weakness when it comes to foreign policy, Rep. Michael McCaul, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Sunday. 

“Since President Biden came into office, he’s projected weakness,” the Texas Republican said on “Fox News Sunday,” adding that when a president shows weakness, “you invite aggression and war.”

But when one projects strength, as late President Ronald Reagan spoke about, “you invite peace,” McCaul said. 

With Biden in office, Iran is again becoming aggressive, Putin has invaded Ukraine, and China’s Chairman Xi Jinping and China are threatening Taiwan and the Pacific, he added. 

“All these things are happening at the same time too and it is not by accident, it is by design,” McCaul said, adding that Biden is engaging in a “weak foreign policy out of fear.”

The news about Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons is disturbing, said McCaul, as “what happens in Ukraine will happen in Taiwan and the Far East and the Pacific. This is a very important confrontation right now.”

There are also concerns about the United States having enough military resources for potential conflict with China, said McCaul. 

“Weapons in Ukraine are old weapons, more land-based,” but weapons to Taiwan are going to be maritime-based and newer, said McCaul, noting that he signed off on weapons to go to Taiwan 3 years ago that have not yet gone. 

It’s also a concern that there is “no deterrence for war” happening in Taiwan, said McCaul.

“What’s more disturbing is this alliance between Putin and Xi [Jinping], and they just met again saying the next 100 years will be the greatest years and talking about [sending] lethal weapons from China to Ukraine into the fight with Russia,” said McCaul. “This is an alliance. By buying weapons from Iran and North Korea, they are tied together. It is a geopolitical fight between tyranny and oppression versus democracy and freedom in the west.”

And, he’s said, “what happens in Ukraine directly affects Taiwan and the Pacific and we need to deter on both sides. My argument is this administration has wholly failed in that deterrence.”

Meanwhile, the nation’s adversaries are getting aggressive because of Biden’s weakness, but they feared former President Donald Trump when he was in office, said McCaul. 

And when Afghanistan “imploded” under Biden, that was the “turning point” for Putin concerning Ukraine and Xi with Taiwan, the congressman said. 

“That is when everything changed,” he said. “Afghanistan was a turning point. It was a disaster. We left Americans behind, Afghanistan partners behind. We’ve heard testimony about the sniper and the suicide bomber that wasn’t given the authority to take out the suicide bomber. That would have saved 13 servicemen and women, which is a tragedy and when things started going downhill.”