Press Secretary Touts Griner as 'Inspiration' to LGBT While Downplaying the Abandonment of Marine Veteran
Well, President Joe Biden has traded “the Merchant of Death” to Russia for a basketball player with a checkered past, all while leaving a former Marine to rot in prison.
But don’t worry, because White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has reassured us that it’s entirely worth it because the basketball player also is a hero to the LGBT community.
Yup, this is really where we’re at.
ICYMI, the now-former Russian prisoner is Brittney Griner, a 32-year-old WNBA star and Olympic gold medalist who was arrested in February in Russia on drug charges.
Griner arrived back in the United States — in San Antonio — early Friday after the Biden administration brokered a deal with the Russian government to trade her for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Meanwhile, Paul Whelan, a security executive from Michigan who was arrested in 2018 and convicted in 2020 on espionage charges that he and the U.S. say are baseless, remains in prison in Russia. He received a 16-year sentence.
So not only was Griner traded for an incredibly dangerous U.S. prisoner, but the Biden administration got her freed before Whelan despite supposedly trying for his release for much longer.
According to NBC News, the Biden admin was offered either Griner or no one in exchange for Bout. The outlet also said Whelan is being treated differently by the Russians because he was convicted of espionage, which is what Jean-Pierre told reporters when pressed about the trade.
“The choice was bring Brittney home or no one. The president will never stop working to secure Paul Whelan’s release,” she said during a press briefing.
KJP: “The choice was bring Brittney home or no one. The president will never stop working to secure Paul Whelan’s release. On a personal note, Brittney is an important role model, an inspiration to millions of Americans particularly the LGBTQI+ Americans and women of color” pic.twitter.com/ClbGi6ysbq
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 8, 2022
“On a personal note,” she added, “Brittney is an important role model, an inspiration to millions of Americans, particularly the LGBTQI+ Americans and women of color.”
Jean-Pierre indeed is an authority on LGBT women of color, as she is the first openly gay and non-white White House press secretary, something one imagines she holds dear because she’s brought little else to the briefing room since taking over for Jen Psaki in May.
Griner, meanwhile, clearly is Jean-Pierre’s idea of American heroism — the press secretary also described the basketball player, who pleaded guilty to domestic violence charges in the United States in 2015 — as representing “the best of America.”
Karine Jean-Pierre on Brittney Griner’s release: “She represents the best of America.” pic.twitter.com/v2iryUm12v
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) December 8, 2022
Whelan’s family members, who NBC reported were warned ahead of time that he would not be released in the one-on-one trade, were clear they did not hold the government’s failure to release their loved one against Griner.
“It is so important to me that it is clear that we do not begrudge Ms. Griner her freedom,” Whelan’s brother, David Whelan, told NBC. “As I have often remarked, Brittney’s and Paul’s cases were never really intertwined. It has always been a strong possibility that one might be freed without the other.”
Whelan himself was incredibly gracious about Griner’s release, emphasizing that it was better that her trade happen than “waiting for one that wasn’t going to happen.”
He is a credit to the military he served in, a military that seems to be consistently disgraced by our current administration.
Whelan’s Russian lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, also made the interesting and chivalrous comment that it was “more humane” to release Griner because she is a woman and Olympic champion, while his client has been in the military, so therefore it would be “easier for him to be in custody.”
(Indeed, it reportedly was difficult for the 6-foot-9 Griner in the Russian prison, although her attorneys said this was due to her height.)
Let’s be real — it’s no wonder that Russia offered Griner or no one.
This couldn’t have been more perfectly designed by Russia to make the United States look absurdly weak on the world stage, and you cannot ignore the pressing question as to whether Griner’s release actually was worth the trade of Bout, the brutal arms dealer.
In the middle of his country’s war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin trades a dangerous arms dealer for a basketball player, and the best Jean-Pierre can say is that Griner is an inspiration to the LGBT community?
Don’t get me wrong — I think it’s likely that Griner was imprisoned on trumped-up political charges, as she foolishly broke Russian law, and I don’t take her imprisonment lightly. I think it is a fine man who will celebrate the release of a female civilian from prison over himself.
But I don’t take his imprisonment lightly, either, nor the significance of my nation’s posture as it contrasts with the Russian regime in such a volatile juncture of world history.
Just as Russia’s testosterone-soaked military recruitment ads make a humiliating mess of our own “woke” recruitment strategy, furnishing a seriously bad dude in exchange for a woman whose best contribution to our country is playing basketball professionally and being a lesbian tells you everything you need to know about how Biden is making our country look to the world.
I can’t imagine the disgrace felt by Whelan and thousands of other heroes like him who signed up to protect our country and liberty worldwide but are being left to rot in Russian prisons so the president can increase his woke points.
This is what our country’s leaders now value. Sexual identity trumps not only national pride, but international security.
What a disgrace.
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