President Joe Biden doesn't have a forceful approach when it comes to dealing with foreign adversaries, Rep. Claudia Tenney said on Newsmax Thursday, so she hopes that members of his Cabinet, including Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and others will back up a strong, "forceful presence" against Russia President Vladimir Putin's "intent to invade Ukraine."
"Joe Biden is a career politician, a guy who's worried about currying favor and making friends," the New York Republican said on Newsmax's "John Bachman Now." "It's just clear after what happened in Afghanistan that he really doesn't have a forceful approach."
Biden, meanwhile, is on vacation at his home in Delaware and taking a phone call from Putin on Thursday, but Tenney said it would look better if he was back at the White House "to project the strength that we need to project with our enemies and adversaries around the world."
She also said she thinks it's unusual that Biden spends so much time in Delaware "where he's not really engaging" but where he's protected from the media and others who would be putting pressure on him to stay strong.
"He campaigned from a basement and now he's campaigning from a beach home in Delaware and presiding as the commander in chief from there," said Tenney. "Let's just hope the policies come out right at the end and Ukraine's protected, and we prevent Putin from moving in and seizing Ukraine."
She said she's also concerned about Biden's ability to handle "these complex issues" concerning his "lack of strength that has been shown on every foreign policy issue."
Tenney also commented on incoming New York City Mayor Eric Adams' plans to continue "in the same footsteps" as outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio when it comes to keeping up with mandates in private sector business.
De Blasio, she said, "has been probably the worst mayor in the modern era of any city, and particularly an important city like New York City."
Tenney referred to a video of police officers removing a mother and her son from a restaurant in the city because they did not have proof of vaccinations, and said it is "tragic" that officers have to work on enforcing mandates rather than working to solve crime rates brought by "the policies of these authoritarian socialist communists who believe in defunding the police."
The mandates, she added, have caused a huge labor shortage in the city and New York state.
"These vaccine mandates are wrong," said Tenney. "I got the vaccine. It's healthy. It's something my doctor said was OK … some people have legitimate health concerns and other religious exemptions."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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