Criticism raged after President Joe Biden announced his triumphant deal to exchange WNBA activist Brittney Griner, who was facing nine hard years in a Russian penal colony, for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout aka the “Merchant of Death” while leaving a U.S. Marine behind to rot in prison.
With many expressing the opinion that Griner, a black lesbian with a history of expressing anti-American sentiment who was arrested for cannabis vape cartridges in her luggage, was prioritized over retired Marine Paul Whelan largely due to her membership in two very special demographics, outrage erupted that Biden could abandon a man who served his country in such a cynical manner.
One of those speaking out was Dallas Cowboys defensive end Micah Parsons, a human wrecking ball who sacked Biden over leaving Whelan behind.
“Wait nah!! We left a marine?!! Hell nah,” Parsons said in a tweet referencing CBS News White House correspondent Steven Portnoy’s report that Biden’s deal with the devil didn’t include Whelan, who has been in Russian custody for nearly four years.
Wait nah!! We left a marine?!! Hell nah https://t.co/3AeQx8K9OZ
— Micah Parsons (@MicahhParsons11) December 8, 2022
“We still not voting for you!” Parsons wrote in another since-deleted tweet, responding to Biden’s spiking the ball after speaking to Griner on the phone.
But with NFL players not being known for their courage off the field – as was evident by the lack of resistance to the league’s COVID jab mandate – Parsons quickly reversed field with a groveling clarification that he was not speaking ill of Griner.
“My last tweet was no shot at Brittney Griner. I’m super happy she’s back home as she should be. I just have family who have served and it’s crazy to me the President wouldn’t bring him home too. I’m the furthest thing from a trump supporter but I’m not a fan of Biden either,” he tweeted.
My last tweet was no shot at Brittney Griner. I’m super happy she’s back home as she should be. I just have family who have served and it’s crazy to me the President wouldn’t bring him home too. I’m the furthest thing from a trump supporter but I’m not a fan of Biden either.
— Micah Parsons (@MicahhParsons11) December 8, 2022
However, another critic of the Griner for Bout exchange isn’t likely to walk back his heated words for Biden.
Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton was absolutely fuming over what he saw as a totally one-sided deal in favor of Vladimir Putin who scored a mammoth public relations victory by bringing the “Merchant of Death” home as the war in Ukraine drags on.
“The Bout-for-Griner prisoner swap is not a trade, it’s an American surrender. This is not what American strength looks like. Terrorists and rogue states are smiling,” Bolton wrote on Twitter.
The Bout-for-Griner prisoner swap is not a trade, it's an American surrender. This is not what American strength looks like. Terrorists and rogue states are smiling.
— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) December 8, 2022
Bolton also raged about the deal in a Thursday telephone interview on CBS News Streaming Network (CBSN) where he took a flamethrower to Biden’s sop to the Democratic Party’s wokester base that left Whelan facing the prospect of another Christmas behind bars in Russia.
“This is not a deal. This is not a swap. This is a surrender,” he told anchors Anne-Marie Green and Vladimir Duthiers. “And terrorists and rogue states all around the world will take note of this, and it endangers other Americans in the future who can be grabbed and used as bargaining chips by people who don’t have the same morals and scruples that we do.”
(Video: CBSN)
“This is a huge victory for Moscow over Washington,” he added. “Well, obviously, there’s a lot of very understandable human emotion here in getting Griner released, but this is a very bad mistake by the Biden administration. This is not a deal. This is not a swap. This is a surrender. And terrorists and rogue states all around the world will take note of this, and it endangers other Americans in the future who can be grabbed and used as bargaining chips by people who don’t have the same morals and scruples that we do.”
“There are occasions when you swap spies. Obviously, there are legitimate exchanges of prisoners of war. But this doesn’t even approximate that. The idea that somehow what Brittney Griner did very foolishly in my estimate, but that whatever she did compares to Viktor Bout is something that shows just how desperate the administration was to make this deal,” Bolton said. “And I’m just very worried about the effect it has and the danger that it can put many other Americans in, all around the world.”
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