Dan Crenshaw on Russian-Ukraine conflict : 'We failed to deter and are inviting conflict'
Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas., on how the Biden administration failed to de-escalate growing tensions as a Russian invasion into Ukraine becomes more likely
Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas., joined ‘Fox & Friends’ Thursday to discuss what he sees as the failure of the Biden administration in handling the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The White House clarified its position Wednesday night after Biden made a comment about a "minor incursion" by Russia that critics interpreted as a potential green light for Russia to invade.
KAMALA HARRIS GRILLED IN CONTENTIOUS INTERVIEW ON BIDEN'S RUSSIA REMARK
REP. DAN CRENSHAW: To prevent war, you need deterrence. You need clear costs and consequences for actions. You do not prevent war by allowing authoritarians to take one bite at a time, keep poking you until you'll give in just a little bit more, just a little bit more. We've seen the consequences of that over the centuries. This is just the most recent of a long list of failures to engage in that deterrence properly. I mean, the last example was in Afghanistan, of course, because Biden proved to the world, we weren't willing to stand up for our allies. We were willing to abandon them. We weren't even willing to stand up for our interests, even at a low cost. And over the last few years, by the way, we've been we've been decreasing our numbers in Germany, our troop numbers. So there's less and less deterrence. We have European allies that won't invest in their own security.
The only one who stood up to them was Donald Trump. And guess what? There were no incursions in any territories during Donald Trump's presidency. There's a reason for that. Very simple elements of deterrence were actually enforced. And on top of that, Europeans are not willing to commit to the sanctions and economic retaliation necessary against Russia. Should they do this incursion, at least our administration is talking about that. But you also need the Europeans on board. So I hope Secretary Blinken can go there this week and make that happen. There needs to be clear consequences for what they do because we've failed to deter and now you're inviting conflict. It's a very bad situation and we've left ourselves without many options as a result.
WATCH FULL ‘FOX & FRIENDS’ INTERVIEW BELOW:
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