Biden is merely the latest to fail at managing Putin. And while we might fault Biden for failing to learn from his predecessors (who thought they could charm or outmaneuver Putin), he’s also saddled with the bad hand he inherited from them. Putin is also stronger today than he was during previous presidencies.

It should also be noted that in the last month or so, Biden has done things correctly. He has preempted Russia’s attempts to create a bogus pretext for the invasion, clearly condemned Russia’s “unprovoked and unjustified” invasion, built a broad international coalition of support, and imposed sanctions (including sanctions on the company behind the Nord Stream 2 pipeline).

But just for fun, let’s pretend for a second that Biden was somehow to blame for the invasion. Let’s assume that Biden’s show of weakness did influence Putin. Would now be the time for Americans to air that dirty laundry and point the guns inward? As the invasion begins, wouldn’t the patriotic thing be to focus on the people of Ukraine and focus our passionate anger on the man who is actually responsible?

No, not Joe Biden. Vladimir Putin.