Brooks: WH ‘Shouldn’t Be’ Walking Back Biden’s Statements ‘All the Time’

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks said that we’re not in a situation like the Cuban Missile Crisis and he gets the impression that the Biden administration views the prospect of Russia deploying nuclear weapons as possible, but not likely. And argued that the White House shouldn’t walk back President Joe Biden’s foreign policy statements “all the time.”

Brooks stated, “Well, we’re not at the Cuban Missile Crisis. But I’ve been wondering, Putin’s been talking about nukes, how seriously does the administration take it? And my impression is that they don’t think it’s probable, but they do think it’s possible, and they’re really worried about it. … [T]he administration is working super hard to send messages to Russia that this really would be catastrophic if you did this. And so, I think that statement was part of that.”

After Washington Post Associate Editor and MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart brought up the White House walking back Biden’s statements about Taiwan in the past, Brooks said, “They always walk it back. Sometimes, you have to think, oh, this is just presidential policy. Like, he is the President. He gets to make policy. But they shouldn’t be walking it back all the time.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett