00:10:01.140We saw it in 2014 when Putin first invaded Ukraine.
00:10:04.860We saw it in 2015 when Putin started the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to go around Ukraine so that he could invade Ukraine and still get his gas to Europe.
00:10:14.020We saw it in 2019 when I authored the sanctions legislation that passed with bipartisan supermajorities that Trump signed and that stopped Nord Stream 2.
00:10:25.060It's why Putin didn't invade Ukraine in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, because he needed to get his gas to market and he had to go through Ukrainian pipelines to do so.
00:10:38.780And because we had a strong president in Donald Trump and Putin didn't want to mess with him.
00:10:44.420Just weeks before the invasion, 44 Democrats voted in favor of waiving sanctions on Russia.
00:10:50.980Remember that when they start beating their chest about how tough they are on Russia?
00:10:55.060They caused this invasion by waiving those sanctions.
00:10:58.240But we filmed the last podcast last week.
00:11:02.000At the time, I mentioned in the last podcast the possibility of a deal.
00:13:35.060I think Putin is, in fact, laughing at the Nord Stream 2 sanctions because I think Putin believes, well, fine, they'll sanction it now while I'm actually driving tanks on Kiev.
00:13:46.680But once Putin succeeds in conquering Ukraine, which I think he believes he will, and once he succeeds in putting a puppet government in place, which I think is what Putin plans to do in Ukraine.
00:13:59.860Then I think he believes, for good reason, that Biden will say, oh, well, what a shame.
00:14:06.980Now we'll lift our sanctions on Nord Stream 2 and you can turn the pipeline on.
00:14:10.460And so the Biden White House's sanctions on Nord Stream 2 are not credible as sticking.
00:14:17.720And that's why I'm introducing legislation this week to make the sanctions on Nord Stream 2 permanent and to take away Biden's ability to waive them.
00:14:28.380And, you know, there's an old there's an old military phrase that people people learn about, which is, you know, people have heard the phrase you shouldn't burn your bridges.
00:14:40.420But but but that actually comes from military strategy where where an invading army would come in, they would cross a bridge and they'd burn the bridge behind them.
00:14:52.140So they had to win the war because retreat was no longer an option.
00:14:56.240And I think in order for the Nord Stream 2 sanctions to be credible, we've got to burn Biden's bridges because Putin now knows Biden's so weak, he'll waive the sanctions again once the urgency is gone.
00:15:15.220We'll have a lot more to turn effect if it is clear and written in U.S. law that Nord Stream 2, the sanctions are permanent and it will never, ever, ever be allowed to be turned on because that gives Ukraine the ability.
00:15:30.060The pipelines still go through Ukraine.
00:15:32.360It puts Putin in a much more vulnerable position.
00:16:07.200This actually happened and he had a great time.
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00:17:05.240You mentioned something that seems really crucial here, which is Putin's pride.
00:17:11.200He's so far into this at this point, it seems impossible for him to turn around.
00:17:16.380There have been reports, one from your colleague Marco Rubio, who says he tweeted out today, he said,
00:17:22.160I can't go into the intelligence briefings, but something is seriously wrong with Putin.
00:17:27.340And he's far more erratic, for instance, than he was some years ago.
00:17:32.320I think that was the insinuation of it.
00:17:33.800You've got certain Russia watchers, Fiona Hill would be one example, who's saying Putin, he really means business.
00:23:13.820And unfortunately, it only encourages it.
00:23:16.740So why don't we put the sanctions on the energy industry?
00:23:19.680Is it one, because Biden doesn't really care if Russia conquers Ukraine and he knows that what he is doing right now doesn't have any teeth, so never mind?
00:23:28.980Or is it two, because we need the oil and Europe needs the oil?
00:23:48.000It may be a few weeks, maybe even a few months if the Ukrainians surprise.
00:23:53.580But they believe eventually Russia will conquer Ukraine.
00:23:56.700And then what they're counting on is an insurgency that plays out over years, that if Russia conquers Ukraine, that the Ukrainians engage in guerrilla warfare.
00:24:17.540I think that's about all the Biden administration is holding on hope for.
00:24:22.220However, they really don't see any vision for preventing Russia from conquering Ukraine any more than they saw a vision for stopping the invasion in the first place.
00:24:36.300That they believe they don't understand strength.
00:24:41.160I told you about the previous briefing where one Democratic senator asked, why didn't Putin invade in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020?
00:24:49.760And several of us just started laughing out loud.
00:24:51.920I mean, it's a question that answers itself.
00:24:56.980But I will say also, on the European dependence on Russian oil, listen, Biden has gone a long way to creating that dependence.
00:25:08.720When Biden in his first week shuts down the keystone pipeline in America, when he shuts down new leases on federal lands, when he shuts down new offshore leases, all of that reduces America's ability to export energy, which makes our allies more dependent on our enemies.
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00:28:27.040Any conservative, as far as I'm concerned, any conservative, any Republican, any American, any patriot,
00:28:32.520the view on Putin, my view on Putin is he's a dictator, he's a thug, he's a murderer, he's an evil man, he is our enemy, he hates us, and he wants to kill us.
00:28:46.720I will say I think the press desperately wants to amplify this small little fringe group on the right because, A, they love any dissension on the right.
00:29:03.540So they, you know, we're in this weird Alice in Wonderland where for 60 years, conservatives stood up to the Soviet Union and liberals defended, celebrated, heralded the Soviet Union.
00:29:22.220For more than 60 years, for almost a century, probably.
00:29:33.540And, you know, going back to, you know, the Sandinistas, I mean, there's not a communist revolution on earth that Democrats haven't defended.
00:29:42.020When Trump became president, there was this fictional narrative that Democrats and the corrupt corporate media invented of Russia, Russia, Russia.
00:29:52.960And it was very weird for four years, Democrats suddenly discovered Russia was bad.
00:29:58.680And it's the most bizarre, like, what's weird.
00:30:02.480So some of the old Democrats, the ones who've been around the Senate a long time, they actually know that these are sort of fake talking points.
00:30:09.840That they were using for convenience to attack Trump, but they don't really believe it.
00:30:16.760Some of the newer Democrats didn't quite get the joke and they suddenly, oh, oh, this is what we believe, Russia bad.
00:30:23.140And then suddenly when Biden is surrendering to Russia, they're like, they don't know what to say.
00:30:27.560They just kind of stammer voicelessly because they haven't they haven't figured out that for four years when Democrats were saying Russia bad, they were posturing.
00:32:22.520It is true that Vladimir Putin funds the construction of cathedrals while America funds a drag queen story hour in libraries.
00:32:29.640But by any measure, by any measure, Ukraine is a more Christian country and at least equally conservative as Russia.
00:32:38.800So even if even if American conservatives are trying to export or superimpose domestic political values on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, I don't think it holds up.
00:32:48.380And I think it's a really important insight you're making here.
00:32:50.680Just because a man is the enemy of my of my enemy or my opponent does not make him my friend.
00:32:57.000Yeah, and it's, as I said, I think the corporate media vastly elevates these few handful of fringe folks on the right because they love telling the narrative.
00:40:33.980If Joe Biden were honest, he would stand up and say, the State of the Union, thanks to the Biden administration's policies, is weaker in every respect than it was a year ago.
00:40:50.840If Joe Biden were honest, he would say, we spent trillions of dollars, we racked up trillions in debt, and that has produced galloping inflation that is hurting Americans across the country.
00:41:02.880If Joe Biden were honest, he would say, we refuse to enforce the law, and the result was the worst illegal immigration in 61 years as 2 million people entered this country.
00:41:15.400As a result of our policies, we saw more crime, we saw more children being physically and sexually assaulted, we saw more disease, and we saw more poverty.
00:41:24.380If he was being honest, he would say, as a result of our illegal and unconstitutional vaccine mandates, we've seen doctors fired, we've seen nurses fired, we've seen police officers and firefighters fired.
00:41:35.800I've been the one firing soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines.
00:41:39.320We've seen truck drivers fired as a result, if he were being honest, of my giving in to the radical socialist left.
00:41:48.120We've seen police officers and police forces across the country undermine.