Meet the Press - February 26, 2023

Interview

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Morning, Chuck, good to be on the show.

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Well, you know, I think just to begin with, looking at the past year we need to recognize how we got here, what mistakes were made, and what we can do going forward. I think one element that the National Security Advisor doesn't talk about, I think it was clearly some of the Biden administration's weakness on issues like energy, national defense, and, clearly, the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan that emboldened Putin to undertake the brutal invasion of Ukraine. I think, though, that now that we are in this battle, it's strongly in our interest to continue to support the Ukrainians to restore their territorial integrity and their sovereignty without committing U.S. forces. But you know, Chuck, your interview actually highlighted one of the problems. Jake Sullivan is talking about, "Well, we're not going to do F-16s today. That's for another time, not right now." That has been a pattern with this administration from the beginning, where they have slow rolled critical military weapons systems. You know, it's a long list. It's Patriots, it's HIMARS, it's tanks, and now it's F-16s. And, to me, that is a real blunder. We need to get them what they need now and listen to the Ukrainians not, as he said, the policymakers. They've proven their ability to fight bravely, and I think we need to do a much better job. Took nine months to get them the Patriots, and I fear the same thing is happening right now with the F-16s -- you just saw it right now with the National Security Advisor.

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Well, I think you saw the unease that Jake Sullivan demonstrated when you were pressing him on that. I do agree that this is going to be up to the Ukrainians and Zelenskyy. We need to give them, like I said, the weapon systems to undertake that. But I think they should be more clear. I think it should be all the territorial integrity of the entire country, which includes Crimea. And so yes, I think they need more clarity on that. And the national security advisor didn't demonstrate it in his interview with you today.

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No, I don't think so. I mean, you look at the U.S. Senate, the members who are on committees like Intel, Armed Services like myself, Foreign Affairs. I think there's still a strong contingent of Republicans who support supporting the Ukrainians. Now, I do think that there are legitimate criticisms of this administration's conduct of supporting the Ukrainians. Let me give you one that in particular, being home in Alaska, really matters. You know, from the beginning of this administration, this administration's been focused on shutting down the production of American energy. Well, as you know, Chuck, Xi Jinping and Putin fear American energy dominance. And so to have an administration that's shutting down energy, making it harder to move energy, pushing back on the ability to finance energy for America, this actually directly relates to our efforts to push back against Xi Jinping, Putin. You know, in many ways their energy policies have been national security suicide. And I think this is what frustrates Republicans where we see that other policies of this administration aren't at all helping pushing back on what I refer to as this new era of authoritarian aggression led by Putin and Xi Jinping. And it's a frustration you're seeing among Republicans, but it's also frustration among Democrats.

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Look, I think you've always had on both sides kind of the wings of each party and isolationist tendency. And I think that this war in particular, you're right, the polling is starting to show a lack of support. And I think that there are ways that you can address this. A lot of Republicans say, "Hey, we should be doing more on our own border, not the Ukraine/Russia border." My response to that is, "Hey, great powers can do both things." But it is important to address our own border, to secure the border. That would take away one of the arguments. Something else -- and I hear from Alaskans all the time on this -- we need to do a better job, the administration needs to do a better job of getting our European allies to pull their weight. As you know, Chuck, they've had a commitment to spend at a minimum -- and it should be a floor not a ceiling -- 2% of their GDP on defense. The vast majority of the NATO allies that we have don't do that. And I think that frustrates Americans, where we see this huge conflict in the heart of Europe, and the Europeans aren't stepping up enough the way in which they need to. And I think pressing them to do more and having them do more can help push back against some of the doubts that are starting to spread across the country on Ukrainian support.

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Well, look, they're already helping the Russians. I mean, every time you hear the Chinese officials talk about this, they're blaming us, they're blaming NATO for the Ukrainian war. I agree, there should be a serious red line with regard to them supplying military equipment to the Russians, and I think that should be in the form of sanctions. But, you know, there's a broader issue here, Chuck, and I think this is another one where Republicans are actually more united. The war in Ukraine really revealed that we are in this new era of authoritarian aggression led by Xi Jinping and Putin. As you know, they're working together. They are increasingly isolated. They view their Democratic neighbors in a very paranoid way. And I think that this challenge where they are looking to take aggressive actions against their neighbors, whether it's in Ukraine, whether it's Taiwan, I think it's going to be with us for decades. We need to face it with strategic resolve and confidence. There's a number of things that we have with regard to our strategic advantages over these dictators that we should promote, if we're wise enough to use them. Our military, our allies, our natural resources and energy, and of course our commitment to democracy and liberty. I mean, in many ways that was what really helped us win the Cold War. Xi Jinping and Putin, their biggest vulnerability is they fear their own people. We need to exploit that as we move forward. But I think that can unify Republicans and Democrats.

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Well, I think we need to have public hearings on this and really dig into it. Think about what just happened over the last three years: one of the biggest pandemics in a century. A lot of evidence that it's coming from the Chinese, and when other countries even raise it, like Australia, the Chinese use their coercive economic activities to shut people up. So I think we need to do extensive hearings. I hope our Democratic colleagues in the Congress can support that. I know the Republicans in the House are certainly supportive of that. But I think if that happens, we need to make sure every country in the world knows this. Look, this is a country that has no problem coming out and lying to the world. We just saw that with this Chinese spy balloon. It's the nature of a Communist dictatorship to lie to their own people, to lie to the world. But I think that we need to make sure every country knows that and then look at what the consequences could be. Obviously millions of deaths, huge economic impacts, and it would once again show that the Chinese Communist Party is not only a menace, but the nature of these regimes is to lie to the world. And we need to make that clear to people.

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