Former Trump Official Says U.S. Should Go ‘All In’ on Russia to See If Putin Is ‘Really Bluffing’

Jesse Watters and retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg speculated about creative ways the United States and its allies could ramp up pressure on Russia as it continues its assault on Ukraine.

Watters welcomed the former National Security Advisor to Mike Pence on Monday’s Jesse Watters Primetime.

“See if you think this is a proper idea,” Watters began. “What if we started distracting the Russians and made them a little nervous? What if we had the Japanese stir up a little trouble on their eastern flank? What if we sent some naval assets into the Black Sea? Just say, ‘Hey, you know, we’re protecting Turkey, our NATO ally.’ What if, you know, we scrambled a few jets in the Baltics or something – something to make the Russians maybe think twice and take their eye off the ball a little bit?”

He concluded his musings by stating, “I don’t think you can see this much more carnage day after day in Ukraine.”

Kellogg didn’t reply directly to those ideas, but he offered alternatives, including the deployment of every U.S. ballistic missile submarine in an effort to see if Russian President Vladimir Putin was bluffing when he warned others not to interfere with his invasion. Putin said any meddlers would suffer consequences “never before experienced in your history,” in what many believe was a threat to use nuclear weapons.

Kellogg said,

Here’s an example what you can do. You know, we’ve generally got between five and six ballistic missiles submarines – the boomers – at sea any one time. Flush the whole fleet. Put every boomer we’ve got at sea. And we can crew them and put them out there. And you say, “Look, we’re not gonna back off from a nuclear concern that you’ve got.” You know? Go all in. Let’s see if he’s really bluffing or not. And then his generals are gonna be a little bit concerned because you’ll have Milley call Gerasimov. He’ll have Lloyd Austin calling his counterpart Shoigu. “You guys really wanna do this?”

But you’ve gotta become creative and you’ve gotta put him on his back foot.

“We’re not being creative,” Watters responded. “We’re ratcheting up sanctions and we’re just watching, you know, Ukraine turn into a morgue. And you can’t just day after day watch that and expect things to change. We gotta – again – be more creative and I like the idea with the subs. You know, keep him thinking. Keep them on their toes.”

Watch above via Fox News.