ESPN host Stephen A. Smith defended President Donald Trump against those who blame him for the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war during a fiery rant on his podcast, “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” on Monday.
During his defense of Trump, Smith shifted blame onto former presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton for their actions in the region while they were in office, arguing that the major catalysts for this war occurred on their watch.
“We ain’t gonna act like he [Trump] caused this now. It’s Democrats in office,” Smith asserted. “It was Biden in office when a full-fledged war against Ukraine took place, courtesy of Russia’s instigation, no matter what they try to say to Trump.”
Smith noted that Russia invaded Crimea in 2014 during the Obama administration, a conflict that helped fuel the current war in Ukraine.
In 2014, the Kremlin annexed the Crimean Peninsula after what Ukrainians refer to as the Revolution of Dignity, when they ousted Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych. It was a quick and relatively bloodless takeover. Russia flooded the region with migrants and prevented Ukraine from reclaiming it.
The Obama administration provided Ukraine with non-lethal aid, sanctioned the Kremlin and kicked Russia out of the G-8, but some — reportedly even including Obama’s then-vice president, Biden — believed he should have done more.
The ESPN host continued his argument, calling the Clinton administration, which, in Smith’s view, was responsible for creating a dependence of Ukraine on the United States after the former president played a key role in Ukraine’s decision to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security assurances in 1994.
“It was Clinton in office when you made a deal that disarmed Ukraine, and therefore weakened them, leaving them dependent on the United States,” he argued. “And now, here they are having to beg for support that they’re owed because of what we promised them as a nation.”
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“We promised them this! You owe it to the Ukraine, Ukrainians, you absolutely do. I’m not saying I like it. I’m not saying I like spending billions of our taxpayer dollars to them. That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is, promises made are supposed to be promises kept!” he exclaimed.
Smith concluded by rejecting any equivalency between the two warring nations, emphasizing that Ukraine’s sovereignty was under attack and that Ukrainians should not be seen as the “villains” in the conflict.
