(NewsNation) — Last week, President Joe Biden modernized a phrase from Teddy Roosevelt as he announced a new package of $800 million in U.S. military aid for Ukraine.
“Sometimes we will speak softly and carry a large Javelin, because we’re sending a lot of those,” Biden said, referring to an anti-tank missile system.
Since then, however, the White House has gone off that script.
“We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of thing that it has done in invading Ukraine,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said during a news conference in Poland on Monday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent statements carried the same tone.
“His [Biden’s] objective would be to push the Russians our of the territory they are trying to occupy,” Blinken said appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.
“And that goes to making sure in various ways that Russia does not have the effective means to do this again,” he continued.
Given that Russia has the worlds largest stockpile of nuclear weapons and that they’re willing to use them, the question now is whether the recent rhetoric from the White House has been smart.
Congressman John Garamendi (D-Ca.) joined “On Balance with Leland Vittert” on Tuesday to discuss the issue. He says, in short: “Speaking truthfully is always better than speaking softly.”
See the full discussion in the video above.