As tough guy rhetoric proved ineffectual yet again, the White House turned to their favorite scapegoat following Iran’s attack against Israel — former President Donald Trump.
Whether considered a paper tiger or an empty suit, or even an empty chair as Clint Eastwood once famously referred to then-President Barack Obama, President Joe Biden’s talk has repeatedly appeared as little more than that on the world stage.
From deterrents that failed to impede Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to a more recent position when questioned on his message “to Hezbollah and its backer, Iran” following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that simply expressed, “Don’t. Don’t, don’t, don’t,” tensions abroad have continually escalated under the current administration.
Appearing on “Fox News Sunday” with host Shannon Bream, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby attempted to twist that reality into blame against the Trump administration as he contended, “It’s hard to take a look at what President Biden has done and say that we’ve somehow gone soft on Iran.”
“It was the previous administration that decided to get us out of the Iran deal. And now Iran is so much dramatically closer to potential nuclear weapon capability that they were before…Mr. Trump was elected,” he continued.
WATCH: White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby joined to break down Iran’s latest attack on Israel, arguing that Biden has worked ‘very hard’ to keep tensions from escalating. pic.twitter.com/AiHK9Xpvjb
— Fox News Sunday (@FoxNewsSunday) April 14, 2024
Kirby had raised sanctions against the Islamist regime and towed the administration’s line that the defense of Israel against the latest attack was in itself a victory to be celebrated with Biden himself reportedly telling Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “You got a win; take the win.”
The White House spokesperson argued to Bream, “Okay, so they launched more than 100 ballistic missiles. And how many got through? And the reason it didn’t get through was because President Biden made sure that we pre-positioned forces in the region to help Israel shoot them down.”
“So this vaunted ballistic missile program of theirs didn’t turn out to be so vaunted last night,” he added before the host had asked. “But why not support something that would have stopped that program? Or at least contained it in some way so it’s not launching in Israel, and we aren’t having to get it involved defensively to stop it.”
When the conversation shifted to fungible assets that the Biden administration had made available to Iran, Kirby laughed off the widely considered perception that the incumbent was indirectly funding terrorism.
“The sanctions relief that has come about or — it’s not even sanctions relief, but the additional funds that have been made available to Iran due to a sanctions relief program that the Trump administration put in place — can only be used for humanitarian goods,” contended the spokesperson. “It doesn’t go to the regime.”
“And the idea that the regime somehow felt like they were freed up to support these proxies because of that just doesn’t comport with the facts,” he continued arguing, “they had been supporting these proxies for many, many years.”
Bream wasn’t alone in pushing back on Kirby’s take on the assets as she indicated, “it comports with their language.” Joining her in arguing fault rested with funds made available by Biden was a member of Trump’s National Security Council, Richard Goldberg, who served as the Director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction.
“This was a massive, unprecedented and unacceptable strategic attack on Israel,” he told Fox News Digital. “It would be a huge mistake to pull Israel back from a military retaliation, but it’s downright insanity to keep $10 billion accessible to Tehran in the aftermath. The president needs to lock down all the money he made available to Tehran these past months.”
Goldberg added, “If the president is looking for economic and diplomatic responses to the Iranian attack,” having already signaled the Jewish state would be on its own regarding a militaristic counteroffensive, “there are three obvious ones available: lock down the $10 billion, enforce U.S. oil sanctions and snap back U.N. sanctions. If Biden avoids these steps, this isn’t escalation avoidance. It’s continued appeasement.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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