Joe Piscopo: 'Gangster' Putin 'took over the whole neighborhood' with 'nobody in Oval office'
Donald Trump's departure left a leadership vacuum that remains empty today, host says.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Russian authoritarian President Vladimir Putin can be best compared to a gangster who incrementally takes control of his neighborhood while no one stands up to him, until it is too late, Joe Piscopo said on his radio program Friday.
The East Coast radio host reported on news overnight that Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant near Enerhodar, Ukraine – the largest on the European continent – took Russian artillery fire and was eventually overtaken by Kremlin forces. His swipe at President Biden was clear.
"Look where we are," Piscopo lamented. "It is because there is nobody in the Oval Office – there's nobody in charge."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He said that until recently, the United States "led the way" in the world on multiple fronts and that now, under Biden, America has taken a backseat and allowed nefarious individuals like Putin to exact their own geopolitical plans.
Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin [composite] (Getty Images)
"If you take that attitude that, 'Look, we know what’s best for us, we believe in America – we're strong and we have a military and we know what would go,' then you could put people at bay," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It’s really like a gangster in the neighborhood back in the day," Piscopo continued. "And if you just placated that gangster and let that gangster get away with anything, he’s going to keep going. And they’re going to take over the whole neighborhood – and indeed that happened. Until someone steps up and stops him."
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U.S. President Donald Trump talks to Russian President Vladimir Putin and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Hamburg. (Steffen Kugler/Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung via AP)
"The analogy, I think, is just. Putin is just out of control, and I don’t care how corrupt Ukraine is, you don’t just kill innocent people," he said, noting that the ex-KGB agent has overseen missile strikes on civilian populations and infrastructure.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Piscopo contrasted Biden's leadership – or lack thereof – with that of Donald Trump, saying that when dealing with nefarious, "crazy" people, they are only cowed by people they see as crazier.
"When Donald Trump said to Vladimir Putin, you know, we're going to take out Moscow [if] you make one move toward Ukraine -- Putin is nuts, and say what you will about Donald Trump, you know, maybe he was a little off himself, God bless him, but we needed that. We needed that the Oval Office," he said.
Earlier Friday, a widely-circulated video posted to Instagram appeared to show Trump telling professional golfer John Daly over speakerphone that he once told Putin, "Vladimir, if you do it we're hitting Moscow – we're going to hit Moscow. And he sort of believed me."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Russian President Vladimir Putin looks at U.S. President Bill Clinton before the start of their second meeting June 4 in Catherine's Hall in the Kremlin. WM
"If you have someone in charge in the number one country in the world, which America used to be -- and you stand up and you go, ‘You make one move, and I'm taking out Moscow.' If the person that you’re telling that to is crazy, he’s gonna think you’re crazier."
The "Saturday Night Live" alum went on to criticize the "weak and feckless" Biden White House, remarking that many of the 79-year-old's staffers are "young academians that have not spent one day working" in the proverbial real world.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Piscopo compared Putin to Adolf Hitler, hoping aloud that someone will "take him out".