“This week, we’ve witnessed a total collapse of diplomacy,” former acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell told CPAC on Friday in a speech that pulled no punches against the Biden administration for its weakness and failed policies.
“D.C. newsrooms won’t say it, but American diplomats have failed,” he said, “President Biden told us that he was going to bring diplomacy back; instead, it’s on its back.”
“We desperately need new, creative, visionary, diplomacy, muscular diplomacy, to secure meaningful peace when a conflict arises,” Grenell added, before contrasting the weakness of the Biden administration compared to the “muscular diplomacy” of the Trump administration.
“Last summer, we watched helplessly as our credibility, our deterrence, and our national honor crumbled,” he began, in reference to the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. He noted that Trump and Biden both had the same ultimate goal of withdrawal, but that President Trump “had an unapologetic pro-American diplomacy with a credible military option behind him.”
“It’s clear that the Taliban respected and feared President Trump,” Grenell explained. “He sought to withdraw on his terms, leaving a delicate but viable order behind while reading the situation on the ground and adjusting his plans when necessary.”
“Meanwhile, Joe Biden constantly radiated evocative weakness, announcing an arbitrary pullout date for a 9/11 anniversary photo op, and squandering all his leverage that he pulled our military forces prematurely, exposing our embassy diplomats and American citizens to mortal danger.”
Grenell then mocked the Biden administration, calling it the “Obama Third Term Crew” for leaving Americans behind in Afghanistan.
“This Obama Third Term Crew left hundreds of US citizens behind. And what did they say when honest voices called them out? They bragged that they brought 90% home,” he said. “Bringing 90% home means you left 10% behind. It was irresponsible. It was immoral. And it was un-American.”
“Americans don’t leave Americans behind,” Grenell said, and then he lamented that our allies and others “feel the weakness coming from the White House.”
The contrast between Biden’s weakness and Trump’s strength couldn’t be clearer. Grenell noted how Trump and his America First diplomats were able to pull off a series of “foreign policy miracles despite constant and fierce opposition from the bipartisan foreign policy establishment and self-described experts in Washington DC.”
Grenell cited the current situation in Europe as an example.
“Europe has seen its borders rewritten this week under Joe Biden, and in 2014 when Barack Obama was president,” he said. “And yet the left continues to mock the American First diplomatic strategy.”
Grenell blasted the Biden administration’s failure to avoid war because it failed to use sanctions before Russia invaded, not after.
He explained that in order to dig ourselves out of this “diplomatic hole” that Biden got us into, we must be honest about what went wrong, and “commit to muscular diplomacy for the future.”
“Muscular diplomacy means tough, stabbing, and sober diplomats who advocate tirelessly for our national interests,” Grenell explained. “For decades, U.S. foreign policy has been based on unenforceable global accords. It’s tried to force democracy and regions and countries who didn’t want it and couldn’t handle it.”
Grenell then praised the Trump years as a temporary break from that failed style of diplomacy. “We must not let the Biden administration drag us back into the unsuccessful policies of the past and unnecessary wars this great nation deserves,” he said, though sadly, it seems it’s too late for that, as the conflict with Russia and Ukraine has proven.
“When we speak clearly, and America stands for peace, human rights, [and] the rule of law, our allies will follow. In fact, they’re hungrier than ever for these principles. And they’re hungrier than ever for a strong America.”
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