Biden: “It's one thing if it's a minor incursion… but if they actually do what they're capable of doing… it is going to be a disaster for Russia, if they invade Ukraine.”
President Biden may not have intended to give Russia a green light for a “minor incursion,” but Vladimir Putin may well interpret the off-the-cuff statement that way.
It will be fascinating to see if the people who freaked out – in retrospect, correctly – when Trump refused in advance to accept the outcome of the 2020 elections have a similar reaction to Biden now doing the same thing for 2022.
Biden warns Putin has “never seen sanctions like the ones I’ve promised.” Fine, but what if Vladimir Putin, 69 years old and probably in his last decade of rule, isn't worried about sanctions? What if Putin sees the reconquest of Ukraine as part of his personal and historical destiny, and the restoration of Russia to the grandest days of the old empire or the Soviet Union?
Have any sanctions seemed to have really deterred Putin so far?
Biden bristles at question about school closings. He argues “very few schools” are closed, with 95 percent of schools open. He argues the way the media phrases questions will make viewers believe “all these schools are closed.”
Biden was never a particularly self-aware figure in Washington, but he seems to be getting worse. He comes across as whiny and irritable when he disputes the notion that Omicron is closing schools, because 95 percent are. (That's cold comfort to the students and parents in the remaining 5 percent.) And his whispering-for-emphasis schtick is wearing really thin now.
Reporter asks Biden if voting rights legislation isn't passed, does he still believe the upcoming election will be fairly conducted and its results will be legitimate.
Biden refuses to say it will be legitimate: “It all depends on whether or not we're able to make the case to the American people that some of this is being set up to try to alter the outcome of the election.”
Biden is asked why he has claimed to have reached out to Republicans when some GOP lawmakers, including Senator Mitt Romney, have said they have never received a phone call from the White House.
“I was trying to make sure we had everybody on the same page in my party and I didn't call many Republicans at all,” he responds.
Biden: “Mitt Romney is a straight guy.”
Fact Check: TRUE.
Biden, in claiming he didn't overpromise, cites limiting Covid deaths as one of his successes. But roughly 400k people have died of Covid during his presidency and we're currently averaging about 2,000 deaths per day. His promise was to “shut down the virus.”
Biden quotes New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu saying he decided not to run for Senate to avoid being a “roadblock” to the president for two years.
“I did not anticipate that there would be such a stalwart effort to make sure that the most important thing was that President Biden didn’t get anything done,” Biden says.