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Carol S.'s avatar

One of the many bizarre moments in Friday's Oval Office meeting was when Vance said something like: "Biden was out their puffing out his chest, but talk doesn't do anything. Action is what matters. We need to have diplomacy!"

But diplomacy is, first of all. a lot of talk. And what particular "action" does JD propose to follow that talking, aside from seizing half of Ukraine's mineral wealth?

And what did he mean by Biden "puffing out his chest"? Was that a reference to some kind of tough talk before the invasion? Or does it refer to sending material assistance after the invasion?

The whole comment sounded like a mashup of two contradictory ways that MAGA apologists explain Russia's aggression: 1) It was caused by "Biden's weakness." 2) It was caused by NATO & U.S. "provocation," to which Russia responded defensively. Both of those storylines, oddly, seem to end up at the position that helping Ukraine defend itself is "warmongering," and anyone who wants "peace" needs to do "diplomacy" that's designed first of all to make Ukraine stop defending itself.

Another irony of Vance's "talk vs. action" comment is that Trump has claimed that he kept all the world's bad actors in line simply by stern warnings that they'd better not misbehave, and MAGAs generally echo the idea that tough talk from Trump is very powerful - whereas providing material aid to resist aggression is wrong.

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