Far-left MSNBC host Alicia Menedez declared to her meager audience over the weekend that it is unpatriotic for anyone to criticize the Biden administration’s deal that freed WNBA star Brittney Griner.
Leave it to MSNBC to define patriotism for Americans.
Griner was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison after authorities found vape cartridges with hashish oil in her luggage at a Moscow airport earlier this year.
The Biden White House sent a notorious and highly dangerous international criminal, Viktor Bout, back to his Russian home last week. The convicted arms dealer coincidentally happened to be freed in the middle of Moscow’s continued war in Ukraine.
In return, the U.S. received two-time Olympic champion Brittney Griner. Besides being a sports and media celebrity, she saw fit to kneel for the national anthem and even called on the WNBA to stop playing the song during the height of the George Floyd protests in 2020.
She also vowed not to take the court while the anthem was played for the season.
I wonder if Brittney Griner will sing and stand for the National Anthem now that the United States has compromised national security to free her?… #BrittneyGriner
— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) December 8, 2022
No matter, as Griner’s plight in a Russian labor camp touched most if not all Americans. People from all walks of life followed her story and hoped that there would be an opportunity for her to board a plane and return to her family.
The nine-year sentence was rightly seen as a serious miscarriage of justice, and there was celebration when the first news of the deal to secure her release was revealed. The details, however, especially Whelan’s exclusion, sparked a somewhat different reaction.
Many at home and abroad rightly called out the Biden administration for the agreement leaving Whelan still floundering in a Russian prison on what most believe to be trumped-up charges.
But don’t express that view on MSNBC. Menendez and her guest, Jotaka Eaddy, made it clear that it is deplorable to criticize the president for his misplaced priorities.
Besides the obvious implications that critics are racist and anti-LGBT, Eaddy flatly declared that disparaging the deal is simply un-American. Menendez, of course, agreed.
Having MSNBC define patriotism for Americans is rich in irony, and it is more than fair to criticize the Biden White House for the prisoner swap. Let’s just hope that now, filled with appreciation and gratitude, Griner sees the flag and anthem in a whole new light.
