In a fiery appearance on Fox Business Network’s Kudlow, Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) delivered a blunt assessment of Vladimir Putin’s aggression and the necessity for the United States to take decisive action under President Donald Trump’s leadership. While the liberal media continues to undermine Trump’s foreign policy successes, Kennedy’s remarks cut through the noise, emphasizing that strength—not wishful thinking—is the only language dictators like Putin understand.
When host Larry Kudlow asked whether it was time for Trump and the Senate to get tougher on Putin, Kennedy didn’t mince words: “The President says Putin has changed. He hasn’t changed. Putin is and always has been a pirate. He’s got blood under his fingernails. He’s a butcher of his own people. And he’s not going to change his behavior until he’s forced to.” This stark reality stands in sharp contrast to the naïve diplomacy pushed by the left, which has repeatedly failed to curb Russian aggression.
Kennedy, a staunch ally of President Trump, made it clear that the administration’s approach must be one of unrelenting pressure: “The President, I think, wants him to change, but hope is not a strategy. What we need to do is choke…Russia to death financially.” He outlined a concrete plan to cripple Putin’s regime by targeting Russia’s oil exports through secondary sanctions, a move the liberal media has long dismissed as too aggressive. Yet, as Kennedy rightly noted, “Russia can’t make it without oil. We can choke off their oil sales… and then they’ll be forced to come to the table.”
The senator’s message was unequivocal: Trump must wield America’s economic might to force Putin into submission. “President Trump needs to make it clear to Putin that if he doesn’t want to come to the table and negotiate a reasonable settlement, we’ll hit him so hard that they may get better but they’ll never get well.” This is the kind of tough talk the left refuses to embrace, preferring instead hollow rhetoric and failed appeasement.
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While the mainstream media obsesses over manufactured scandals, Trump and his allies are focused on real solutions. Kennedy’s call for financial warfare against Russia exposes the weakness of liberal foreign policy, which has allowed Putin to act with impunity for years. “Right now, hoping they’ll do better, hope’s not a strategy, man. You’ve got to hit Putin right between the eyes.”