Brittney Griner was a celebrity stuck in a political dispute, Whelan is a totally different case. I don’t think he was spying for the CIA, but he was up to some pretty sketchy stuff, and he has an even sketchier past.
He’s claimed to work as a police officer in multiple places that say they have no record of him, or that he only worked there for a short time. He was court marshalled for larceny and given a bad conduct discharge. Even after his discharge he was hired as head of security for a global firm that did business in Russia. Even ignoring the fact that he holds like 4 different citizenships, just the information that he has provided himself is super sketchy.
I wouldn’t be in any rush to to spend political capital on this dude either.
At least that has some return on investment, that’s if you’re looking at it from the perspective of a politician.
Though I do find it pretty hypocritical that he spent that capital freeing someone from a crime that he himself is perfectly fine sending people to jail for in America.
But you know who she is… I’d say it’s pretty self evident that it was fairly effective PR.
Reality doesn’t matter, politics revolves around perception and fabricating the PR story you want.
“President saves famous female athlete from tyrant” is always going to be a net plus. The people who don’t agree or perceive it in a different fashion are either votes you wouldn’t win anyways, or people who don’t care about it enough to vote for someone else because of it.
Eh, I really don’t think many people are saying “I wasn’t going to vote for Biden, but he freed Brittney Griner.” And there are surely others who think Biden was wrong for trading an arms dealer for a WNBA “star.”
Eh, I really don’t think many people are saying “I wasn’t going to vote for Biden, but he freed Brittney Griner.”
America is full of single issue voters, and we have a pretty long history of incarcerating minorities for nonviolent offences like cannabis.
Freeing a famous minority from a political adversary would be a fairly decent virtue signaling routine that could lead people to believe he would commit to the same actions here.
And there are surely others who think Biden was wrong for trading an arms dealer for a WNBA “star.”
I’m guessing the majority of those people wouldn’t be voting for Biden either way.
A 60 year old arms dealer who’s lost his connections to his arms supply isn’t really going to be making any trouble.
The moronic move was trading the Merchant of Death for a WNBA player.
Why? What’s the logic behind this statement?
Viktor Bout was only relevant because he had connections to the military during the dismantlement of the Soviet state. Now those arms are just distributed by the Russian federation. He’s a 60 year old man, and the business of illegitimate arms trade is basically dead.
Griner on the other hand is a millionaire athlete, who still has years of valuable play time ahead of her. At the very least it makes sense economically when you account for her taxable income. And that’s ignoring the fact that she holds high public opinion in important liberal voting blocks.
How is Griner worth it but Whaelen is not?
Whalen is a known liability… He has a checkered past of fraudulent claims and larceny. The dude literally has a bad conduct discharge for multiple acts of larceny.
I don’t really see how you think the two hold similar value as citizens… That’s unless you have specific biases against people who are lfbtq, black, or just wnba players.
Brittney Griner was a celebrity stuck in a political dispute, Whelan is a totally different case. I don’t think he was spying for the CIA, but he was up to some pretty sketchy stuff, and he has an even sketchier past.
He’s claimed to work as a police officer in multiple places that say they have no record of him, or that he only worked there for a short time. He was court marshalled for larceny and given a bad conduct discharge. Even after his discharge he was hired as head of security for a global firm that did business in Russia. Even ignoring the fact that he holds like 4 different citizenships, just the information that he has provided himself is super sketchy.
I wouldn’t be in any rush to to spend political capital on this dude either.
Besides, how many Merchants of Death do you think we have in custody?
Less than we have in political offices unfortunately.
That’s fine. I just would not have spent political capital on Griner, either.
At least that has some return on investment, that’s if you’re looking at it from the perspective of a politician.
Though I do find it pretty hypocritical that he spent that capital freeing someone from a crime that he himself is perfectly fine sending people to jail for in America.
What return? WNBA fans are not exactly a huge group.
But you know who she is… I’d say it’s pretty self evident that it was fairly effective PR.
Reality doesn’t matter, politics revolves around perception and fabricating the PR story you want.
“President saves famous female athlete from tyrant” is always going to be a net plus. The people who don’t agree or perceive it in a different fashion are either votes you wouldn’t win anyways, or people who don’t care about it enough to vote for someone else because of it.
Eh, I really don’t think many people are saying “I wasn’t going to vote for Biden, but he freed Brittney Griner.” And there are surely others who think Biden was wrong for trading an arms dealer for a WNBA “star.”
America is full of single issue voters, and we have a pretty long history of incarcerating minorities for nonviolent offences like cannabis.
Freeing a famous minority from a political adversary would be a fairly decent virtue signaling routine that could lead people to believe he would commit to the same actions here.
I’m guessing the majority of those people wouldn’t be voting for Biden either way.
A 60 year old arms dealer who’s lost his connections to his arms supply isn’t really going to be making any trouble.
Removed by mod
The moronic move was trading the Merchant of Death for a WNBA player.
Tell me, what was gained by the trade? How exactly was it worth the political capital? How is Griner worth it but Whaelen is not?
Why? What’s the logic behind this statement?
Viktor Bout was only relevant because he had connections to the military during the dismantlement of the Soviet state. Now those arms are just distributed by the Russian federation. He’s a 60 year old man, and the business of illegitimate arms trade is basically dead.
Griner on the other hand is a millionaire athlete, who still has years of valuable play time ahead of her. At the very least it makes sense economically when you account for her taxable income. And that’s ignoring the fact that she holds high public opinion in important liberal voting blocks.
Whalen is a known liability… He has a checkered past of fraudulent claims and larceny. The dude literally has a bad conduct discharge for multiple acts of larceny.
I don’t really see how you think the two hold similar value as citizens… That’s unless you have specific biases against people who are lfbtq, black, or just wnba players.