The Navy Reserve intelligence officer running as a Republican to represent North Carolina’s newly-drawn 13th Congressional District gave RedState his first-cut analysis of the unfolding of President Joseph R. Biden’s orchestrated ceasefire and hostage release phase of the Gaza crisis.

“Biden’s insistence in ceasefires and pauses allows Hamas to dig in, reinforce, and shift resources," said Matt Shoemaker, a Clayton resident who drills with the rank of lieutenant.

“It’s the same failed strategy from his policy in Ukraine. Rather than using overwhelming force, he wants others to have minimal impact on the battlefield out of some misplaced sense of altruism,” said the former military intelligence analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency.

“I think the hostage release is Hamas’ attempt to throw the West a bone and pretend like they’re willing to negotiate,” he said. “It will bog Israel down in negotiations—all the while Hamas’ true intentions are to reorganize, rearm, and establish logistical control to continue attacking Israel.”

Shoemaker said it used to be the accepted U.S. policy to never negotiate with terrorists.

“As a former intelligence officer with the Navy, I know that appeasement in any form—whether it be with Iran, Hamas, or others—only emboldens and encourages them to behave more violently,” he said.

Despite the appearance of goodwill and a reduction in tensions, he said, the ultimate reality will be brutal.

“Biden’s weak appeasement policies make war and death more likely—causing rather than stopping what he is trying to prevent,” he said. 

“How many times do we have to learn the lesson that we cannot horse trade, negotiate, or appease people who are committed to destroying any semblance of civilization?” he asked. 

Shoemaker said that in the end, Biden will be seen as Hamas' benefactor.

“Whether overtly or accidentally, Hamas’ best hope at this point is Joe Biden’s foolishness and his mistaken belief that an Israeli ceasefire will cool tensions,” he said.

“Hamas is in many ways the repository and expression of the most virulent hatreds that have corroded the human spirit,” he said. 

“No amount of wishful thinking, goodwill, or misplaced altruism on President Biden's part will change that. It must be dealt with like the cancer it is, and [be] cut out from existence,” he said.

Shoemaker: Greenway’s ‘Flying Dutchman’ description of Biden foreign policy correct

Shoemaker said he agreed with Robert Greenway, a senior national security staffer to President Donald J. Trump and the architect of the Abraham Accords, when he described Biden's foreign policy apparatus as like the legendary ghost ship the "Flying Dutchman” with Biden walled off from the decision-chain, but no one else taking the helm.

“I think there is certainly this notion of a Flying Dutchman aspect to the way that the Biden White House is operating,” he said.

“There is a really interesting parallel when I was with European Command, which was the way that Putin and Biden's meeting went, I believe it was in, I think it was in Finland back in 2021,” he said.

“If you remember when Biden met with Putin face-to-face, and he got all kerfuffled, and he had all these note cards and such,” he said. "I have a feeling Mr. Putin went away from that meeting thinking that President Biden was just so old and tired.”

Shoemaker said Biden and Putin had met many times before, either at meetings, summits, or other events. Hence, the Russian president had a personal gauge of the degree to which Biden had declined from the Finland encounter.

“He's met Joe Biden before when he was vice president, and so Mr. Putin can just meet with Biden and just remember how he was 10 years ago--and recognize that this is not the same guy,” he said. 

“It was essentially a blank check for Mr. Putin to do anything that he liked, and some six months later, he invaded Ukraine."

Shoemaker raised in a military family

The Republican House hopeful said his joining the Navy was a natural decision, given his family's legacy of uniformed service.

“I commissioned as an officer in the Navy, actually back in 2019,” he said. 

“I've always found the intelligence field and spycraft to be an intensely interesting and valuable sort of practice, which is why it drew me to that specifically,” he said.

Shoemaker said he was a civilian intelligence officer at DIA when he was directed-commissioned, so his induction was based on his previous civilian experience.

“It's kind of like the family business,” he said. 

“My dad was in the Coast Guard for 28-and-a-half years,” he said. “My grandpa was in the Air Force, and my great-grandpa was in the Army during World War I.”

Shoemaker said his research shows that his family's military service goes back to the American Revolution in the local militia.

“There was a little bit of a familial obligation, but at the same time, it's just kind of the life that I really enjoy,” he said. 

“I mean, I love the camaraderie. I love the family nature of the military, and the sense of meaning and accomplishment of being part of something greater than yourself.”

Read RedState's coverage of the new North Carolina congressional districts here.