Joe Biden tells U.S. citizens to leave Ukraine, saying military wouldn’t rescue them

President Biden told NBC News anchor Lester Holt that if Russia invades Ukraine, any Americans left behind will be trapped. Starnes reported that the President stated that he wouldn’t send American troops into Ukraine to get American citizens out if Russia invades. Biden asserted it wouldn’t be possible to do so and to find the Americans. Biden elaborated that he was “hoping” that if Putin does invade Ukraine, “he’s smart enough not to, in fact, do anything that would negatively impact on American citizens.”

No doubt, Putin, a prior KGB chief, has fully absorbed the scope of the significance of Biden’s “hope” and Biden’s challenge to the limits of Putin’s intellect. Lester Holt then asked the probing question: “What scenarios would you put American troops to rescue and get Americans out?” According to the report, Biden answered, “There’s not.” Biden went on to say: “That’s a world war when Americans and Russians start shooting at one another. We’re in a very different world than we’ve ever been in.”

Holt pressed Biden regarding the implications of Biden’s categorization of being in a “very different world,” when he then asked: “Not even on behalf of simply evacuating Americans?”

President Biden responded, “No. How do you do that? How do you even find them?” Holt asked Biden if he told Putin of his concerns about an invasion and, inferentially, the implications of Putin’s actions possibly initiating a world war if Putin didn’t live up to Biden’s hopes. Biden initially responded that he had, but when Holt followed up, Biden said, “I didn’t have to tell him that. I’ve spoken about that. He knows that. And it’s a little bit — look, that’s — what I’ve asked is American citizens should leave, should leave now. We’re dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. This is a very different situation, and things could go crazy quickly.”

The opening line of the Starnes posting is ominously relevant. “If you are an American citizen living in Ukraine, you might want to start packing your bags.”