Republican criticism of President Joe Biden’s lopsided swap of women’s basketball star Brittney Griner for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout aka the “Merchant of Death” while leaving former Marine Paul Whelan to rot in a Russian prison has ruffled feathers, including those of cantankerous Democrat strategist James Carville who lashed out with all too predicable smears.
On Saturday, the 78-year-old “Ragin’ Cajun” who has long lived off of his fame for being the architect of Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential win, appeared on CNN with Jim Acosta where he took great exception with those who would dare to question the wisdom of trading a tattooed black lesbian pothead with a history of expressing anti-American sentiments for a dangerous international arms trafficker whose products led to the deaths of Americans and could do so again now that he’s back in business.
When questioned by the yappy host on Saturday’s edition of “CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta” after he played a clip of potential GOP Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy blasting the deal, Carville whipped out the race card by suggesting that those who are displeased with Biden’s deal are racists, homophobes and lovers of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
(Video: CNN)
“So Jim, I’m gonna say somethin’ controversial but I’m gonna preface it with somethin’ true,” Carville responded. “There are some people who legitimately say that prisoner exchanges just encourage more hostage-taking. I forty percent agree with them. But that’s a legitimate policy position,”
“Does anyone in their right mind think that if Brittney was a blond Chi Omega from SMU that the reaction would have been the same? Of course not!” Carville added.
He then took a swipe at Israel, America’s indispensable ally in the Middle East.
“And by the way, the country that engages in the most uneven prisoner exchange is Israel,” bringing up the prisoner exchange of Israel Defense Forces member Gilad Shalit while butchering his name in Bidenesque fashion who was traded for “something like 1,027 terrorists,” a reference that had nothing to do with the exchange of Griner for Bout other than to muddy the waters of critics’ arguments.
“A lot of this, like a lot of things in America, are driven by the fact that this young person is not white and is not straight, and if you don’t believe that, you’re not in tune with American politics,” he raged. “I’m sorry, this is just something that has to be said.”
“Most of the people that are criticizing this – not all – are pro-Putin, anti-Ukraine,” directing his rage at those who don’t feature little blue and yellow flag emojis in their social media profiles. “This has exposed a big, a big big fault in American culture and American opinion.”
Carville’s ranting about naysayers being Putin lovers completely glosses over the fact that it was Biden himself who puckered up for the Kremlin strongman with his early Christmas gift of Bout, a man whose expertise will come in handy as the war in Ukraine drags on with no end in sight.
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