Scarborough Asks if Biden Understands That ‘We’re Going to Have to Go In’ to Ukraine if Putin Uses Chemical Weapons
Joe Scarborough said on Monday’s Morning Joe that Americans are witnessing “war crimes committed on their television sets 24 hours a day” and asked MSNBC host Jonathan Lemire whether President Joe Biden understands that if chemical weapons are used “we’re going to have to go in” to Ukraine on the ground.
Scarborough began with praise for the response from the Biden administration and other nations in getting weapons into Ukraine and for the sanctions on Russia and Vladimir Putin, but said that “now the war is moving to a new phase.”
“Americans and Europeans are seeing war crimes committed on their television sets twenty-four hours a day,” he said. “You saw in the West a couple of useful idiots starting to talk about Ukrainians having chemical weapons, which was a precursor to a Russian general saying that they had those weapons, which, of course, the intel community is rightly saying is going to be Russia’s excuse to use chemical weapons.”
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby is among many officials who have stated that it’s “the Russian playbook that that which they accuse you of, they’re planning to do,” but said he does not believe chemical weapons attacks are “imminent.”
Scarborough put the question to Lemire, saying, “Does the Biden administration — forgive me, this is going to sound condescending, but it’s too early for me to figure out any other way to say it — Does the Biden administration understand, then, when Americans and Europeans see five-year-old children choked to death by Putin’s chemical weapons that we’re going to have to go in?”
“Do they understand that there is no there is no holding back that we’re going to have to take a far more aggressive approach?” he asked.
“Administration officials, Joe, recognize that we’re teetering on the edge of potentially a far more dangerous phase of this war,” Lemire answered.
Referencing his own article at Politico, Lemire blamed ex-president Donald Trump, Covid, political divisions within the United States, and “watching the Afghanistan withdrawal” for Putin’s willingness to invade before saying that Biden (who oversaw that Afghanistan withdrawal) has “laid down clear markers as to what he can and cannot do, and he says it.”
“He hasn’t just said it once or twice, and it’s really striking. He says it nearly every public opportunity he can, whether in speeches are on Twitter talking about how he will not commit U.S. troops to NATO,” said Lemire, arguing that’s not just to inform Americans but is a message to Europe.
“That’s a real signal the US has wanted to send to Europe: ‘Hey, we don’t want this conflict to expand,'” said Lemire.
“Now, if Putin chooses to expand it, or if chemical weapons are indeed used either in Ukraine or elsewhere in Europe, that is going to change the equation,” he said. “These are meetings security officials at the White House, the Pentagon are having around the clock right now, to figure out what the strategy and response would be.”
In short, Lemire’s answer to Scarborough was that the Biden administration is not sure whether or not they would or would not take more action, should more action be taken by Putin. Very specific.
On Friday, Biden said that if Putin uses chemical weapons there will be a “severe price” to pay.
Watch the clip above, via MSNBC.
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