Former Acting Director of the United States National Intelligence Ric Grenell brought the house down Saturday, as he addressed the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). During his speech, he harangued the Biden administration for its failed diplomacy regarding the situation with Ukraine and Russia. But his comments reflect a dreadful reality that seems to be sinking in with the American public: This president does not project the type of strength and decisiveness needed to be the nation’s commander-in-chief.

Grenell began by stressing the fact that effective diplomacy must be backed up by a willingness to use force if necessary. “Diplomacy isn’t a weak option, but we all know that diplomacy without the credible threat of force invites contempt,” he said. “However, diplomacy that sees military force as the first option rather than a last resort will result in war. Diplomacy done right, however, is the opposite of war. This week, we’ve witnessed a total collapse of diplomacy.”

The former American ambassador to Germany during the Trump administration continued, noting how the president broke his pledge to employ effective diplomacy to avoid military confrontations. “President Biden told us that he was going to bring diplomacy back. Instead, it’s on its back,” Grenell pointed out. “We desperately need new, creative, visionary diplomacy, muscular diplomacy to secure meaningful peace when a conflict arises. Last summer, we watched helplessly as our credibility, our deterrence, and our national honor crumbled in the retreat from Afghanistan.”

Grenell went on to describe how both Biden and former President Donald Trump faced the same situation in Afghanistan and contrasted their differing approaches to solving the problem. “The difference is that President Trump had an unapologetic pro-American diplomacy with a credible military option behind him,” he said. “It’s clear that the Taliban respected and feared President Trump. He sought to withdraw on his terms, leaving a delicate but viable order behind while reading the situation on the ground and adjusting his plans when necessary.”

After recounting the disaster that was the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, Grenell turned his attention to the ongoing situation in Ukraine, stating that Biden made a mistake by failing to place sanctions on Russia prior to their invasion. He said:

“They think sanctioning Russia before an invasion in Europe is reckless, and they pretend that Donald Trump’s unpredictability was harmful. Well, I saw firsthand that having a President putting the American people first and calling out the Germans for their hypocrisy and not telling our enemies what our strategy is that made America and Europe”

Grenell argued that if the U.S. wished to avoid military hostilities, it needed “to impose crippling sanctions before the war starts” and cease dependency on the Kremlin for oil. He said:

“The key to the Ukraine conflict and the symbolic core of the growing turmoil in Europe has always been energy, and specifically the Nord Stream Two pipelines. It’s a pipeline that will carry natural gas across the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. But what it really is is a pipeline of influence. It is a pipeline that makes Germany and Europe dangerously dependent on Russia for its energy.”

He continued, noting that “the Nord Stream Two pipeline is still not operational,” and that “it is still our most important leverage point over Putin.” Unfortunately, the Biden administration decided not to exploit that particular piece of leverage, and it created “the precise moment Putin saw American weakness,” according to the former acting director.

Grenell was one of several speakers at CPAC who savaged Biden’s White House for its failure to project strength while dealing with Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem also castigated the administration for not taking stronger action towards the Kremlin.

Of course, the reality that Biden and his team are falling woefully short on this matter is no surprise. This president has never seen a foreign policy situation that he was actually equipped to handle effectively. The withdrawal from Afghanistan was only a sneak preview into how badly the White House will handle overseas problems, and it seems to be nothing more than a continuation of former President Barack Obama’s abysmal foreign policy. Unfortunately, America will have to deal with this incompetence at least until 2024.