Boris Johnson’s call to arms

Boris Johnson’s call to arms

Boris Johnson started a speech in Washington urging continued support for Ukraine this morning with three words: “God bless America.” The former British prime minister (and one-time Spectator editor) is in town in his burgeoning role as a freelance champion of the Ukrainian cause — and he began with a message of thanks for the leading role taken by the United States in arming and supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

When in power, Johnson was one of the Western leaders most committed to backing Ukraine. Now, freed from the constraints of Downing Street, he has chosen to spend his new-found free time helping the Ukrainian cause — even if that puts him at odds with his successor, Rishi Sunak.

Johnson was recently in Kyiv with Volodymyr Zelensky. Here in Washington, touring the capital’s congressional offices, cable news studios and think-tank auditoriums, he has created a headache for the government back home. In an interview with Fox News, he criticized the British government’s reluctance to send fighter jets to Kyiv, something Sunak has so far opposed.

Making the case for doing more, he said in his Atlantic Council speech: “What is the point in storing those tanks and planes in North Carolina or North Rhine Westphalia or Alsace when Ukrainians could be using them now, exactly where they are needed to help assure our collective security for decades?”

This risks sounding a little glib given the very real trade-offs leaders face with limited resources in a dangerous world. But Johnson sees any kind of balancing act on support for Ukraine as a “false economy,” he said today, arguing that inadequate support now means a longer, more costly and more deadly stalemate rather than a quicker Ukrainian victory. And in an article for the Washington Post yesterday, he came out in favor of NATO membership for Ukraine.

Johnson found a sympathetic audience at the Atlantic Council, which takes a fairly hawkish line on the conflict, with plenty of European diplomats nodding their heads as he urged America to stay the course. Elsewhere, he will have met with more skeptical voices, including among the Republicans he met on the Hill yesterday. If Johnson — easily the most recognizable living British political figure among Americans — stands any chance of influencing the debate on this side of the Atlantic, it is to talk as a trusted conservative to those on the center-right here in Washington.

But Johnson is clearly alarmed by the arguments on Ukraine popular in some parts of the American right today. This morning he took aim at one of the leading skeptics of American support for Ukraine: “I’ve been amazed and horrified by how many people are… are frightened of a guy called Tucker Carlson,” he said. “Has anybody heard of Tucker Carlson? What is it with this guy? All these wonderful Republicans seem somehow intimidated by his perspective… Some bad ideas are starting to infect some of the thinking around the world about what Putin stands for, what he believes in.”

Aside from taking shots at Tucker Carlson, might Johnson be interested in a more extensive involvement in US politics? The former prime minister had the good fortune of bumping into Cockburn on the Hill yesterday. Asked by our intrepid reporter whether he might consider a presidential run, the New York-born Boris replied: “I don’t rule it out.” Just the wildcard entry that the 2024 Republican primary needs — though Johnson will have to establish his eligibility first, having handed in his US passport to avoid a tax bill a few years ago. There’s also the small matter of requiring fourteen years of residency here…

*** Sign up to receive the DC Diary in your inbox here ***

Hunter Biden needs (your) help

Hunter Biden, the president’s famously well-remunerated son, needs your help. The Washington Post reports that Hunter Biden’s “allies” have had “initial discussions about creating a legal-defense fund to pay for a growing team of attorneys that is helping him confront both a years-long federal tax investigation and a host of new congressional inquiries, according to people familiar with the matter.”

With Hunter reportedly struggling to pay legal bills already in the millions and set to grow further, the president’s problems also include the fact that his art career hasn’t proved quite as lucrative as some predicted. The Post reports that he has sold “about a dozen paintings and for a fraction of the $500,000 price tag once estimated by a gallerist, according to a person familiar with his account. Some potential buyers have backed out of purchases because of the potential blowback and congressional investigations, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.”

The appeal coincides with the emergence of a new low Biden-fils scumbaggery. The Daily Mail has published texts to a former employee that show Hunter threatening to withhold backpay from an assistant unless she partake in nude, sexual FaceTime calls with him.

The FBI rummages through Rehoboth

The FBI searched Joe Biden’s Rehoboth Beach house today. According to Bob Bauer, the president’s personal attorney, the search was conducted from 8:30 a.m. to noon and, though no classified documents were found “the DoJ took for further review some materials and handwritten notes that appear to relate to his time as vice president.”

The search coincides with Robert Hur’s first day working as special counsel to oversee the investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents. So far, classified documents dating from Biden’s time as vice president have been found at his home in Wilmington (safe and secure next to the president’s Corvette) and at the offices of the Penn Biden Center, a think tank in Washington.

White House set for an economic-shake up

The White House economic team is set for a reshuffle. Brian Deese has been planning his exit as director of the National Economic Council for some time. And now Politico reports that Lael Brainard, number two at the Federal Reserve, is poised to join the White House to become Biden’s top economic advisor. Also set for a big White House job: longstanding Biden aide Jared Bernstein.

The news that consultant turned business-friendly Democrat Jeff Zients taking over from Ron Klain as Biden’s chief of staff had left some progressives nervous about the possibility of Biden drifting towards the center. If Brainard were to land the job, it would settle some of those nerves: she has been at the dovish end of the spectrum at Powell’s Fed. And it would also open up an important vacancy for the president to fill.

What you should be reading today

Heather Mac Donald: Tyre Nichols and the new black-cop white supremacy
William D. Cohan: Jim Cramer versus the world
Bobby Miller: Why it’s time to end the debt ceiling and fund the IRS
Jeff Gerth, Columbia Journalism Review: The press versus the president
Holly Otterbein, Burgess Everett and Ally Mutnick, Politico: Arizona Republicans fear they may blow it again
Judge Glock, City Journal: The Fed goes underwater

Poll watch

President Biden job approval
Approve: 43 percent
Disapprove: 52.4 percent
Net approval: -9.4 (RCP average)

How serious a problem do you think police violence against the public is in America?
Very serious: 43 percent
Somewhat serious: 31 percent
Not too serious: 13 percent
Not serious at all: 5 percent
Don’t know: 4 percent (Morning Consult/Politico)

Sign up to receive the DC Diary here.