President “More Important Things”

Border? Not a “more important thing”.

The second most-wanted man in US custody (at the time of his 2010 arrest, behind a guy named bin Laden), arms dealer Viktor Bout: Not a “more important thing”.

Let’s take a closer look at this just-announced Brittney Griner-for-arms dealer deal.

Look, I’m glad Brittney Griner is out of the Russian hellhole prison. Happy for her family and her basketball community at large.  Russia ostensibly grabbed her for having THC vape cartridges, which wouldn’t be a big thing over here, but gave Putin pretext over there. He read the room. She would be valuable to hold onto and deal. Remember, he plays by no rules, so you always knew getting her back would involve something that didn’t smell too good.

And this is certainly that.

At the time of Bout’s arrest, he was known as “The Merchant of Death” (they call Elon Musk that now, of course). Of Bout, Attorney General Eric Holder said his trafficking in AK-47s supported FARC terrorists in Colombia as well as other terror groups who “killed Americans”.

Then-CIA director John Brennan said at the time that Bout “was responsible for arms trafficking and supporting terrorist organizations on multiple continents”, adding that his being taken off the board would “undermine attacks worldwide”, including on Americans.

A DOJ release from around the same time Brennan and Holder spoke: Bout was “convicted of conspiring to kill US nationals, conspiring to kill US officers and employees…to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles and provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations…”

What they jailed Brittney for was insane, but she did it, and confessed to it. Handing this guy Bout over is definitely more insane.

Team Joe can run themselves dizzy taking victory laps, but this makes the Russell Wilson deal look balanced. Putin took the president out back of the gym for a whupping, and established an easy precedent for the future, given the high volume of NBA/WNBA players who play and coach over there (the Spurs own Becky Hammond even took Russian citizenship to play over there for years). Grab one every so often and go shopping with these Americans.

One of the challenges of being president is seeing the big picture. The joyous reunion of Brittney Griner and her loved ones is definite.

But what have we wrought with Putin, with other Americans like Paul Whelan, who he holds, and with Americans Putin hasn’t grabbed…yet?