- White House Struggles To Walk Back Comment Calling for Regime Change in Russia
President Joe Biden’s Saturday speech mentioning that Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” is getting strong reactions around the world, with the administration later saying his comment was not about changing regimes or overthrowing the government.
Biden said in his speech Saturday that Putin is “a dictator bent on rebuilding an empire” and that Ukraine will “never be a victory for Russia.” “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden continued.
A White House official later retracted those comments, clarifying that the president was not suggesting a regime change or overthrow of Russia.
“The president’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change,” the official said in an email to The Hill.
President Biden’s comments “caught a lot of people off guard,” and “raised questions” about whether there’s been a change to U.S. policy toward “removing President Putin from office,” Josh Lederman of MSNBC reacted.
Fox News’ Eric Shawn later asked on air, “Do you think in that speech that the president was calling for regime change, basically signaling the Russians and the oligarchs to push Putin out?”
Fox contributor Rebecca Grant responded to Shawn, “That was a stunning remark by Biden. I think that’s unprecedented in U.S-Russian diplomatic history. That puts U.S.-Russo relations in the deep freeze. It was a huge and stunning revelation.”
“Absolutely. He did call for regime change. Let’s see if the State Department or White House tries to walk that back later or not,” Grant added.
Meanwhile, a shockwave of social media reactions has followed Biden’s comments hours after he made the chilling remark.
Biden says what we all know is true, that Putin cannot stay in power….The media goes into breathless tizzies.
Trump says something false and unintelligible while cozying up to Putin….The media shrugs, oh well.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) March 27, 2022
White House already walking-back the comments lol. How embarrassing. Does the President of the United States actually know what he's saying or not? Threatening the country with the most nukes isn't going to fly like how you destroyed Iraq, Libya, Syria..https://t.co/Jhyksvxswn
— Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) March 26, 2022
Diplomacy is dead. Another fatality of the last 2 years. NATO/ globalists want regime change in Russia, as they did in Iraq and Libya. They are not about peace and negotiations. The uninitiated masses will eat up what they are fed. As they always have, as they always will.
— NoRisk_NoReward (@noreward_norisk) March 27, 2022
Tough to walk this one back, considering Biden advocated for regime change in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria; and said that “NATO got it right” after toppling Libya’s gov’t, describing it as a “prescription for how to deal with the world as we go forward” https://t.co/YqCOly07Rr
— Stephen Semler (@stephensemler) March 27, 2022
Only US heads of state routinely announce which other sovereign heads of state can “remain in power.” They said “Noriega must go” & “Saddam must go” & “Qaddafi must go” & “Assad must go.” Now it’s “Putin must go.” But this is all a cover for US capitalism’s endless war drive. pic.twitter.com/XDLfxuQ0b3
— Brian Becker (@BrianBeckerDC) March 27, 2022
