Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer grilled Security Council spokesman John Kirby during a Monday interview, asking him to point to anywhere that he could say that “American strength and persuasion” had improved since President Joe Biden took office.
Hemmer laid out a list of global conflicts and situations that he said appeared to have been mishandled by the Biden administration — from the disastrous troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 to Iran’s unprecedented direct attack on Israel over the weekend — and then asked Kirby whether he could really say that the United States’ stature had really improved on the world stage.
WATCH:
BILL HEMMER: "Can you argue that American strength and persuasion is better today than it was four years ago globally?"
JOHN KIRBY: "Yeah, 100%"
HEMMER: "…..where?" pic.twitter.com/kuxx7gIUrX
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 15, 2024
“I was looking back at the track record for President Biden,” Hemmer began. “Here’s what sticks out: the Afghanistan withdrawal was a mess, we failed to stop Putin from going into Ukraine, the war with Israel and Hamas has been absolutely dreadful and destructive — again, it’s the first time Iran has aimed at Israel – China’s military buildup is substantial … and that was just this morning, what I came up with.”
“Can you argue that American strength and persuasion is better today than it was four years ago globally?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Kirby replied. “Yeah, 100% I can.”
Hemmer’s follow-up question was just one word: “Where?”
Kirby skirted the direct question and did not give any specific instances or locations, instead offering the vague claim that the Biden administration had displayed “leadership” and built the kind of global ties that were necessary to bolster national security.
“I can do that very comfortably. After serving for as long as I did in uniform, I’ll tell you, this is a president who understands American leadership on the world stage,” Kirby said, adding that Biden had made the right connections “not just militarily but diplomatically, economically — around the world to advance our national security interests.”