Biden’s Surrender Presidency
The seven months of the Biden presidency reveal a theme of surrender. Surrender is to give up possession of something to another or to give up to some influence or idea. President Biden has surrendered so much on so many levels. The only question is how much is due to his abject incompetence versus a deliberate attempt to surrender America, the country he swore an oath to preserve, protect, and defend, to dark forces in the world.
Start with the latest surrender, far from America in the war-torn country of Afghanistan. Despite promises to the contrary, Biden and his foreign policy clown posse gave us a rerun of Saigon in 1975. After hiding under his bed for a week, the President explained his brilliant strategy by blaming his predecessor President Trump, and the Afghan military. Surprisingly his speechwriters failed to mention climate change, as another cause for the fall of Afghanistan.
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Biden basically surrendered, after 20 years and over a trillion dollars and countless American and Afghan lives sacrificed to the cause of bringing faculty lounge democracy to a largely illiterate band of thugs living in the 7th century. He blamed Trump for attempting to end a war that now Biden says he opposed all along, neglecting to mention how he presided over eight years of this war while serving as vice-president. Or that he and Obama’s administration released the masterminds of this current Taliban surge from Gitmo in exchange for deserter Bowe Bergdahl.
Trump boxed him in, says Biden. Yet Biden reversed all of Trump’s other policies upon taking office, opening the border, ending American energy independence, and greenlighting Iran’s nuclear program. If he wanted to counter Trump’s plan to exit Afghanistan after 20 wasted years he certainly could have. Biden defied his generals, who must have seen “white rage” in Kabul, and told Biden not to abruptly pull out the military.
But Joe knew better, living up to his reputation as a foreign policy dunce. Obama’s Secretary of Defense famously observed of Biden, that he has been wrong on nearly every foreign policy question over the past 40 years. What little foreign policy knowledge he had was decades ago when he was at least firing on all cylinders rather than now, in rapid cognitive decline, surrendering thought and reason to his advanced age.
Biden also surrendered 40,000 Americans and countless numbers of locals to the whims of the Taliban. Will they be released, held hostage, or beheaded on an international stage? What if they are killed on 9/11 at the surrendered US embassy? America’s humiliation will be complete.
He also surrendered a generation of Afghan girls and women, for two decades allowed to wear Western clothing, and attend school, hoping for a university degree and profession. Instead, Biden surrendered these women to covering all but their eyes, serving as Taliban brides and sex slaves.
Where are the Democrats and Hollywood harpies that were screaming about Justice Kavanaugh and supposed “rape trains” while Biden just unleashed the real thing on millions of Afghan women?
Biden also surrendered Bagram Airfield, the only reliable exit from Afghanistan, not last, once all Americans and our equipment were safely out of the country, but six weeks ago, completely backward to anyone with a whit of common sense. It’s not leaving Afghanistan that’s the problem, it’s the ham-handed backward way Biden did it
To those Americans stuck in Kabul, trying to get to the airport, the US State Department buffoons say good luck, “Please be advised that the US government cannot guarantee your safety as you make this trip.” They might as well tell the stranded Americans to surrender. That’s what the Biden administration did.
Also surrendered were billions of dollars worth of military equipment, now in the hands of the Taliban, with China likely scoping out any high-tech items to add to their arsenal. China and the Taliban? They don’t work together, or do they? The geniuses at Foggy Bottom missed it but the Australian news didn’t as they correctly observed, “Why China’s relationship with the Taliban poses an enormous risk.”
We left military bases, forts, and enough equipment to create a first-rate military force. One that may be used against American interests. This is worse than surrender. Will the Democrats call this “infrastructure spending”?
Have other countries noticed Biden’s capitulation? Iran, as Reuters recently reported, is ramping up uranium enrichment to “near weapons-grade.” If Iran goes nuclear, Biden, by reinstating the failed Iran-nuke deal has surrendered the Middle East and many allies to a bunch of theocratic thugs.
Biden also surrendered to China, as they observe America as a paper tiger, as Osama bin Ladin claimed. American soldiers are real tigers, but not the parade generals at the Pentagon and the woke foreign policy experts in the White House. After Biden surrendered Afghanistan, China is now holding “assault drills near Taiwan.”
What happens when it is no longer a drill but the real thing? Would America come to Taiwan’s defense against China? Hunter Biden’s billion-dollar investment from a Chinese bank suggests not. That was protection money China paid to the Biden Crime Family to look the other way. Will America help her ally? Or will Biden babble while Blinken blinks, and voila, Taiwan is now part of communist China?
Is Russia watching America surrender? Replace China with Russia and Taiwan with Ukraine and you will have your answer. Other countries are watching Biden’s surrender too. Do they want to hitch their fortunes and fates to a paper tiger who will cut and run when politically expedient? Or will they pay homage and allegiance to China for their protection? Just as store owners paid Tony Soprano protection money to avoid something bad happening to their shop.
Back in America, Biden has been surrendering America to myriad bad forces. He surrendered America’s energy independence to AOC and the climate warriors. It’s now to the point that he is begging OPEC to increase oil supplies that he curtailed by stopping fracking and the Keystone pipeline.
He surrendered the Southern border to throngs of who-know-who from who-knows-where, bringing COVID and other diseases, or criminals from emptied foreign prisons. How soon until Taliban fighters find their way to Mexico and then across the border into the US?
Biden surrendered the booming Trump economy, rebounding after the worst of COVID, and now declining. Inflation is a word now being muttered, although in hushed tones, by CNN newsreaders. The misery index is once again being calculated, after a long hibernation from the Jimmy Carter presidency. Joe looked at Jimmy’s failures and said “hold my beer” as he is doubling down on the worst of Carter.
Biden surrendered American cities to police defunding, replaced by BLM riots, leaving city residents in similar dire straits as poor Afghanis, promised hope and change from a succession of US presidents starting with George W Bush, culminating in a horribly executed cut and run.
Biden and his Democrat surrogates in the media have surrendered civility and common sense to wokeness where everything is racist and questioning authority, once a proud virtue of the left, is considered domestic terrorism.
It is clear that Biden and his Democrats don’t believe in American exceptionalism or greatness, preferring to share the stage with powerful dictatorships. Biden’s legacy will be American surrender, economically, politically, and morally.
The world is watching and calculating. Hard-earned trust is easily squandered, much harder to recover. The ramifications of Biden’s surrender will haunt America for decades.
As President Trump said in a recently released statement, “Who or what will Joe Biden surrender to next? Someone should ask him, if they can find him.”
Brian C Joondeph, MD, is a physician and writer. He is on sabbatical from social media.
Why Joe Biden can't resign, or be removed -- or die
In the wake of the Afghanistan debacle, demands have arisen in Congress for President Biden to resign or to be removed via the 25th Amendment. Elements of the formerly pro-Biden media have joined in the condemnation.
Many silent Democrat office holders likely want Biden out, as they fear the systemic incompetence of his administration will bring them down come 2022.
But Joe can not resign or be fired. The Democrat high command will not let either happen, no matter the short term political cost.
On the surface, that makes little sense. Joe's resignation or removal would not alter Democrat control of the presidency and Congress. If Joe leaves, Kamala Harris becomes president. She is incompetent too, but no more so than Joe, and is on board with the administration's radical agenda.
So. Why can't Joe quit the office or be removed?
Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution states: “The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.” The current Senate is equally divided with 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans.
As soon as Kamala Harris takes the presidential oath, the vice-presidency is left vacant. In that case a tie vote means the legislation, resolution, or confirmation under consideration fails.
A Senate chamber without a vice-president puts Mitch McConnell in the catbird seat. He can kill all Democrat initiatives, including any nomination to refill the vice presidency.
The Democrat agenda goes up in smoke. The 3.5 trillion-dollar budget reconciliation bill is blocked. The For the People bill is blocked. The green new deal is blocked. Packing the Supreme Court is dead. As is any attempt to scuttle the filibuster or grab guns.
Therefore the Democrats will keep Joe in office. Even if he's reduced to talking gibberish and eating Jell-O. Kamala also stays where she is, and the Democrat dream of fundamental transformation remains alive.
O.K. But what if Joe Biden dies? This 78 year-old man is certainly at risk. When Joe was three decades younger, in 1988, he suffered two brain aneurysms. Doctors at the time gave him a 50-50 chance of surviving.
“He’s not a healthy guy,” said Dr. David Scheiner in 2020. Dr. Scheiner was concerned about Biden's potential for a stroke. Biden receives treatment for an irregular heartbeat and high cholesterol. Joe has also undergone surgeries for gallbladder and partial prostate removal, and on his sinus and nasal passages to treat sleep apnea.
If Joe dies, Kamala automatically vacates the vice presidency. The Democrats again face the throttling of their agenda. Mitch again rules.
The Democrat high command is not stupid. Indeed, as they proved during the last presidential election, they are quite willing to do whatever needs to be done. We must assume they have contingency plans in place.
If Joe were to expire while addressing the United Nations or during a live press conference that would be one thing. His death must be acknowledged and the consequences accepted.
If Joe passes while out of sight of the public, that is something else. The something else would probably go like this:
His body is secretly transported to Camp David or the family compound in Delaware. His sudden disappearance is explained by announcing that an assassination plot (by Islamic terrorists, or better, by white supremacists) has just been discovered. The president will remain at an undisclosed location until the threat is neutralized.
Biden's existence and whereabouts can be easily faked, so the pretense could be kept up a while. Also remember that a president need not actually sign a bill for it to become law (if Congress remains in session 10 days after passage).
With Joe presumably alive and Kamala able to break Senate tie votes, the Democrats have a window of about sixteen months to enact their agenda. Only recalcitrants Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema stand in the way. The party that plays the hardest ball ever seen will go to work hard on those two.
The window ends Jan. 3, 2023, when the new Congress convenes. Almost certainly the GOP will control the next House and the Republicans stand an increasingly good chance to take back the Senate. If not passed, the Democrat agenda is truly dead as of that date.
While the window remains open, Joseph Robinette Biden must remain president. Whether he serves honorably or dishonorably, whether coherently or incoherently, whether alive or dead.
Back to the Bunker: Joe Biden Hides from the Public Again as Afghanistan Spirals into Chaos
President Joe Biden again tried to distance himself from the political fallout of the disaster in Afghanistan, disappearing into the White House.
The president met with his national security team at the White House on Thursday morning but made no effort to speak to the American people about the growing chaos in Afghanistan.
Afghan people wait to board a U S military aircraft to leave Afghanistan, at the military airport in Kabul on August 19, 2021 after Taliban’s military takeover of Afghanistan. (SHAKIB RAHMANI/AFP via Getty Images)
Vice President Kamala Harris also maintained her silence, as she has not made a public appearance for seven days.
The White House did not schedule a press briefing Thursday, leaving reporters in the building idle.
Press Secretary Jen Psaki has not held a press briefing for two days after she and national security advisor Jake Sullivan tried to defend the administration’s handling of the crisis Tuesday.
White House press staff directed all administration updates about the crisis to the press briefings at the Pentagon and the State Department.
Even the White House social media accounts were slower than usual, sharing no photos of the president or vice president at work.
One social media post claimed that 7,000 people had been evacuated, but there was no update on how many American citizens had been evacuated or how many were of the estimated 15,000 were left.
White House press staff also did not detail the president’s plans for the weekend, even though he was expected to travel to Delaware, according to an FAA advisory.
After Biden Admin Warns of "Strongly Worded" Letter on Women's Rights, Taliban Kill Woman for Not Wearing a Burqa
Yesterday, Biden's UN Ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said that there was "a very strongly worded press statement" expecting "the Taliban to respect women's rights."
While the Taliban had been prepped by the Qataris to say a lot of the right things, including claiming that they'll respect the rights of women within the very narrow boundaries of Islamic law, they apparently killed a woman for not wearing a burqa.
Even as Afghanistan's resurgent Taliban pledged to respect "women’s rights" in a propaganda blitz Tuesday, fighters from the group shot and killed a woman in Takhar province after she went out in public without a burqa.
And in Kabul, Taliban vehicles packed with armed militants were recorded on video patrolling residential areas for activists and government workers. Gunshots can be heard as they accelerate down the street.
Longtime Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid held his first news conference Tuesday to state that the extremist group would honor women’s rights -- within sharia law
What the Taliban's official mouthpieces and even its leaders say doesn't matter all that much.
The Taliban is a Potemkin village. A lot of its fighters appear to actually be foreign Jihadists. (Again, something our intelligence agencies and military and NSC people should have been on. If there was a major flow of foreign fighters, as locals have reported, why were we not tracking it?) They're going to follow their own orders. And many of the so-called Afghan Taliban are their own militias with their own leaders who don't necessarily take orders and certainly not from Taliban press conferences. And the Taliban are fine with that.
Before and after 9/11, the Taliban tried to use plausible deniability to avoid any responsibility. They're still playing the same old game.
Nolte: There’s Nothing Normal About Joe Biden Going AWOL for Four Days
We are entering day five of a crisis where thousands of American civilians are trapped in Afghanistan, and the president of the United States was … on vacation, is still nowhere to be found, is not talking to the American public, is totally incommunicado, is not even releasing statements or speaking to other world leaders.
This is not normal.
The White House / YouTubeAt first, over the weekend, as this crisis unfolded, I thought His Fraudulency Joe Biden’s decision to remain at Camp David was a smart one. One way to downplay a calamity is to not add to the drama with presidential appearances. The thinking being: Americans want out of Afghanistan. Let the country fall. Just make sure the embassy is evacuated.
Well, little did I know, this administration was so caught off guard by the Taliban, there are still thousands of American civilians trapped in a country overrun by Islamic terrorists, which is the equivalent of being stuck behind enemy lines during World War II with a Nazi takeover.
Let’s examine just how abnormal and disturbing Biden’s behavior is…
We have thousands of American civilians — civilians— stuck in a country overrun by jihadists who hate us, the U.S. government has already admitted it has no idea when it can get them out, has already admitted it cannot protect them as they make their way to an airport where a flight might not be waiting for them, and the president of the United States, until late last night, was hiding out at Camp David.
What’s more, the messaging from the White House is in utter disarray. White House Press Secretary Lyin’ Ginger can’t even guarantee every American will make it out safely… And the president of the United States is hiding out at Camp David.
And when I say “hiding out,” that’s not hyperbole.
Biden was nowhere to be seen. He didn’t walk out of his Camp David retreat to take a few questions or make a statement. He’s still not releasing statements that say things like: Nothing will be left undone to ensure every American is evacuated safely. Biden isn’t doing anything. He’s hiding. Even today, back at the White House, he’s hiding. Thousands of Americans are stuck in a foreign country overrun by our mortal enemies, and their president’s gone AWOL for four full days.
This is not normal.
And where’s her Vice Fraudulency Kamala Harris? There are rumors she’s keeping hours that would embarrass a banker, strolling into the office at, say, 9:30, 9:45…
This is not normal.
When thousands of America are trapped behind enemy lines, Americans want to hear from their president. They want to know the man they hired to do the job is doing the job, is in control, is engaged, and is on top of things. They want to be reassured someone is in charge.
This is not normal.
Never in the history of American politics have I seen a president disappear during a crisis like this, not with so many American lives at risk.
But I have seen this elsewhere…
In Russia, 1941, when Josef Stalin had a psychotic break.
In June of 1941, about an hour after Stalin went to bed and two years after signing a non-aggression pact with Hitler’s Germany, Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, a full-fledged invasion of the Soviet Union.
Stalin was so shocked, so caught off guard, so unprepared, so humiliated, he fell completely apart, and for three full days, as the Nazis made historic advances, killed thousands, and drove towards Moscow, Stalin refused to do anything. He was completely out of touch as his country was ravaged. The reasons for his breakdown are obvious: every disastrous decision, every strategic and political mistake he’d made with Germany, had just come home to roost, and he had no idea what to do about it.
Eventually, Stalin got his act together and repelled the German invaders, but the cost to his country and tens of millions of Russians was almost unfathomable. Hopefully, that will not be the case here.
But that is exactly what an already mentally reduced Joe Biden is facing — the terrible, world-shaking consequences of his terrible decisions. He stupidly broke the Trump administration’s agreement with the Taliban, which gave the Taliban license to break all their promises and invade. He stupidly removed our troops before he removed our people. He stupidly removed our troops in the summer, when the Taliban are organized, instead of the winter, when they are all back home waiting out the frigid weather. He stupidly left behind billions and billions and billions of dollars in fully operational U.S. war equipment…
And now Biden’s up and disappeared, gone into hiding, gone AWOL… His administration is in utter disarray just like any government would be without someone in charge.
This is not normal.
U.S. President Joe Biden walks away after refusing to take questions after delivering remarks on the worsening crisis in Afghanistan from the East Room of the White House August 16, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
We are entering the fifth day of the greatest foreign policy/human rights disaster in decades and the president of the United States is in hiding.
Thousands of Americans’ lives are at risk, and the president of the United States is hiding out, is incommunicado…
Something is seriously wrong with Joe Biden.
WaPo’s Ignatius: White House ‘Shell Shocked’ by ‘Defeat’ in Afghanistan
Washington Post columnist David Ignatius on Thursday sounded off on President Joe Biden’s handling of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and the ensuing Taliban takeover.
Ignatius, pointing to a combative Biden who defended his decision-making, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the White House is “really shell shocked” by the “defeat” they have been handed in Afghanistan.
“My sense, as I talk to people in the White House, watched these folks on TV, is that they are really shell shocked,” Ignatius stated. “This is a kind of defeat, a level of reversal that these folks have never known in their lives. These are people who have never gotten, you know, a bad grade in school, and suddenly they find the world collapsing around them. And I think it’s been really, really difficult for them to deal with this. It’s overwhelmed every other issue for the White House.”
“You can see it with President Biden, this defensiveness, almost brittleness,” he added. “He’s trying to talk tough, the buck stops here, you know, chaos was baked in, firm presidential lines of leadership, but even within the White House, I think there are people who wish he was being more compassionate, speaking more to the human suffering that he’s seeing around them than to the toughness and resoluteness of his own decision-making.”
Host Joe Scarborough agreed that Afghanistan has been a failure for the Biden administration, calling it a “diplomatic defeat” and a “catastrophic blow globally among our allies.”
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
Defense Secretary: US Military Not Currently Able to Go Beyond Kabul Airport to Rescue People
(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. military does not currently have the capability of extending its presence beyond the perimeters of the Kabul international airport, Defense Secretary Gen. Lloyd Austin said Wednesday when asked about people wanting to leave, being prevented from reaching the facility.
Asked at a briefing about people who “can’t get into the airfield,” Austin said, “We’re going to do everything we can to continue to try to deconflict [coordinate with the Taliban] and create passageways for them to get to the airfield.”
“I don’t have the capability to go out and extend operations currently into Kabul,” he said. “And where do you take that? I mean, how far can you extend into Kabul, you know, and how long does it take to flow those forces in to be able to do that?”
There are now some 4,500 U.S. military personnel on the ground at the Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA), with the focus on securing the airport and facilitating the safe departure of Americans, other nationals’ civilians, and at-risk Afghans.
The personnel include two U.S. Marine battalions, a battalion of soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard, an 82nd Airborne Division brigade, a U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division infantry battalion, and some special operations forces, according to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.
Asked about the possibility of deploying troops to extract Americans wanting to get to the airport but stuck behind Taliban lines, Milley said the U.S. military had the capabilities but that taking such action would be “a policy decision.”
Austin then added, “I would draw a distinction between extracting someone in extremis condition or circumstance versus going out and collecting up large numbers of American citizens.”
“We don't have the capability to go out and collect up large numbers of people.”
Over the past 24 hours, around 2,000 passengers, including 325 American citizens, had been flown out of the country in 18 Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told a separate briefing.
He said the goal was to ramp up to having the capacity to evacuate 5,000-9,000 people a day, although the actual numbers each day would depend on many factors, including “the ability to process people through the gate and to do it safely.”
But with armed Taliban fighters patrolling and manning checkpoints, the difficulties some are experiencing in trying to reach the airport continues to be a concern.
“We have seen reports that the Taliban, contrary to their public statements and their commitments to our government, are blocking Afghans who wish to leave the country from reaching the airport,” Deputy Secretary Wendy Sherman said at the State Department.
“Our team in Doha and our military partners on the ground in Kabul are engaging directly with the Taliban to make clear that we expect them to allow all American citizens, all third-country nationals, and all Afghans who wish to leave to do so safely and without harassment,” she said.
Sherman was asked about an alert sent out by the U.S. Embassy in Kabul – currently operating from the airport – to the effect that the U.S. government “cannot ensure safe passage” to the airport for Americans wanting to leave the country.
“I’m wondering what this says about the competency of this mission and also the U.S. confidence in the Taliban’s commitment to provide a safe passage to the airport that you’re telling these Americans, ‘You can go to the airport if you want, but you’re not necessarily going to get there safely,’” a reporter asked.
Sherman said Kabul was an “enormous city,” and “I don’t know of any government that would be capable of reaching out to where everybody might be.”
To her knowledge, no American wanting to get to the airport had been harassed by the Taliban or prevented from getting there, she said, while conceding that such incidents may have occurred.
“So far the track record is quite good for Americans getting to HKIA, and it appears that the Taliban’s commitment for safe passage for American citizens has been solid,” Sherman said.
“Again, I don’t know every case, so I’m not making a bottom-line assessment here. But, so far the experience seems to be one that has worked.”
About 11,000 people who “self-identify as American citizens” remain in the country, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday.
President Biden told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that he aimed to get Americans out by the end of August – his earlier deadline for the U.S. troop withdrawal to be complete – but added, “if there’s American citizens left, we’re gonna stay to get them all out.”
State Department spokesman Ned Price also suggested that the timeline may be blurring.
“The fact of the matter is we are going to do as much as we can for as long as we can,” he said in response to a question about what happens after August 31. “If the window is two weeks, we will make the most of that window. If the window is slightly longer, we will make the most of that window.”
“We are in the first instance always going to prioritize the safety and security of our diplomats on the ground, of the service members who are providing force protection, who are facilitating many of these operations, Price said.
“But we know that with every passing day, we will be in a position to bring to safety, whether through repatriation or transfer to a third country, potentially thousands of additional Afghans.”
“So, we know that time is of the essence. We will do everything we can in the first instance to make the most of the time we have, but to potentially even explore if there is more time that we may have.”
Joe Biden is imploding before our eyes
Having created one crisis after another – e.g., a broken economy, a broken border, a broken energy supply and, now, a broken Afghanistan – you’d think that Biden would at least step up and lead us into some brave new Progressive future. That, though, is not how Biden rolls. Instead, he’s either played the blame game, hidden at Camp David or in Delaware, attacked Republican governors, dismissed as bagatelles the horrors in Afghanistan, and generally been weirdly disconnected.
I’ve already commented on Biden’s dreadful statement on Monday, during which he created a straw man by contending that the main issue was whether withdrawing from Afghanistan was the right thing to do. Of course, because few disagree with the decision to withdraw, the real issue was and is the utterly appalling mess the administration, whether in the White House, the Pentagon, or the State Department, made of the withdrawal.
However, Biden having presented his straw man knew where the fault lay: With Trump. It was Trump’s fault that Biden, who has systematically reversed everything Trump did, was forced to fall in with Trump’s planned withdrawal from Afghanistan. But having done so, he bravely took responsibility for that unremarkable decision.
As for the real issue – the debacle – Biden knew where responsibility for that one lay as well: The Afghans. It was all their fault, he said, that when the Americans slipped away overnight, the Taliban were able to roll through Afghanistan, enriching themselves with American weapons, vehicles, and planes along the way. After making that speech, Biden practically ran out of the room and headed back to Camp David.
If you thought that speech was as low as it was possible for an American president to go, you underestimated Biden. On Wednesday, Biden sat for an interview with George Stephanopoulos and insisted that the Afghanistan debacle was “old news” and couldn’t have been avoided in any event:
President Joe Biden angrily defended his handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying on Wednesday that chaos was unavoidable and snapping when asked about horrific images of Afghans falling from planes.
‘That was four days ago, five days ago,’ he said, even though the images of people falling to their deaths emerged on Monday.
[snip]
And in a second excerpt shared ahead of the chat, Biden also insisted he’d been told by his intelligence officials that Kabul would likely avoid falling to the Taliban until the end of 2021 - instead of the mere days it took.
‘There was no consensus if you go back and look at intelligence reports,’ the president said when asked if there had been intelligence failings. ‘They said that it’s more likely to be some time by the end of the year.’
Did you hear an echo of Hillary’s “what difference, at this point, does it make?” when Biden said the collapse is old news?
Tom Cotton was incandescent over the claim that the chaos was inevitable:
Biden also insisted that he’d get all Americans out...except he really meant only those the administration could get out by August 31. As for the others, “we’ll determine at the time who’s left,” whatever that means. Currently, the State Department has made it clear that Americans are on their own getting to the airport and Central Command refuses to allow troops to leave the airport to help them. No mention was made of the fact that the Biden administration deleted a comprehensive Trump-era plan for getting Americans home from emergency situations.
Also on Wednesday, Biden gave a speech – except it wasn’t about Afghanistan, which is the most important issue for most people. Instead, it was about Republican governors who refuse to get with the COVID program. He was especially enraged that these governors are “banning masks in school.” That is, of course, a complete lie. In Texas, Florida, and South Carolina, they’ve banned forced mask mandates. Those who wish to wear masks are free to do so. But Biden’s going to use the power of the federal government to crack down on those states.
Of course, the real issue is that creating a sense of crisis about COVID is how the Democrats are consolidating their power. As long as people are kept in a perpetual state of fear, they will freely hand their liberty to the government.
It's not just that the speech was false and inappropriate. Look at Joe’s affect. This is not a well man:
Having had his say and told his lies, Biden followed his instructions and vanished without taking questions:
The whole grim situation was best summed up in the comment someone named “BooggieMan” left on a Facebook page: “This entire ‘presidency’ is like being tied to a chair and watching a toddler play with a loaded pistol.”
Image: Biden dismissing events in Afghanistan as old news. Twitter screen grab.
He walked out of the room after his speech, ignoring shouted questions from reporters who stood watching in disbelief.
The president has locked down his schedule for Thursday as there are no public events scheduled and no press briefings.
Despite Biden’s failure to address the controversy, he may be trying to squeeze another long weekend at his home in Delaware during the month of August.
A Federal Aviation Administration flight restriction notice suggested that Biden would leave the White House for Delaware on Wednesday and remain there until August 23.
But the president remained at the White House on Wednesday evening as his staff called a lid for the day.
Stubborn Joe Biden Snaps, Falls Apart in Interview as Afghanistan Crisis Worsens
President Joe Biden continued to struggle with his response to the crisis in Afghanistan after days of hunkering down and seemingly waiting for the storm to blow over.
Faced with an outcry from the press over the president’s unwillingness to answer questions about the chaotic conclusion of the 20-year war in Afghanistan, Biden did an interview with ABC News host George Stephanopoulos at the White House to defend his actions.
The interview was the first time Biden took questions about the crisis in Afghanistan in eight days. But he did not appear prepared.
Biden snapped at Stephanopoulos for asking about Afghan people rushing a plane as it took off the runway in the airport in Kabul, some even falling to their deaths as it took off.
“That was four days ago, five days ago,” Biden replied sharply when asked about the images, trying to dismiss them entirely.
In fact, however, the incident occurred only two days ago, which Stephanopoulos did not press him on.
U.S soldiers stand guard inside the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 16, 2021. Thousands of Afghans have rushed onto the tarmac at the airport, some so desperate to escape the Taliban capture of their country that they held onto the American military jet as it took off and plunged to death. (AP Photo/Shekib Rahmani)
When asked what he thought about the images, Biden replied that he reacted by wanting the military to get in control of the situation — avoiding any sense of emotion about scenes that shocked the world.
“What I thought was, we have to gain control of this,” he said. “We have to move this more quickly. We have to move in a way in which we can take control of that airport. And we did.”
When Stephanopoulos asked if he could have handled the withdrawal better, Biden denied it.
“No. I don’t think it could have been handled in a way that — we’re going to go back in hindsight and look — but the idea that, somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens,” he said.
The president also appeared defiant against his critics in the interview, calling his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan a “simple choice” rather than a task that he and his team could have planned and executed much better.
“When you look at what’s happened over the last week, was it a failure of intelligence, planning, execution, or judgment?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“Look, it was a simple choice, George,” Biden said, arguing that he could have either stayed true to the withdrawal date of August 31 or extended it further with more troops.
But in recent days, Biden has already deployed 6,000 troops to Afghanistan to help facilitate the evacuation process as the security situation in the capital city of Kabul collapsed.
All of the conciliatory messages he shared with the public during his speech at the White House on Monday melted away.
When Biden was confronted with his assertion in July that the Taliban would not take over Afghanistan, Biden admitted that intelligence suggested the Afghanistan government would collapse by the end of the year.
Taliban fighters take control of Afghan presidential palace after the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Zabi Karimi)
“Well, the question was whether or not it — the idea that the Taliban would take over was premised on the notion that the — somehow, the 300,000 troops we had trained and equipped was going to just collapse, they were going to give up,” he said. “I don’t think anybody anticipated that.”
Under pressure from Stephanopoulos, Biden finally committed to leaving American troops in Afghanistan beyond the August 31 deadline if necessary, a commitment both his press secretary Jen Psaki and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan refused to make during a press briefing on Tuesday.
Americans should understand that we’re going to try to get it done before August 31,” Biden said and added, “If we don’t, we’ll determine at the time who’s left.” And “if there are American — if there [are] American citizens left, we’re going to stay until we get them all out.”
Biden continues to struggle with criticism of his sloppy exit from Afghanistan, but the White House does not appear willing to put him back on camera to answer more questions about it.
On Wednesday, the president tried to refocus America’s priorities on the coronavirus pandemic, spending more time attacking unvaccinated Americans and Republican governors than reassuring Americans that he would get all citizens out of Afghanistan.
WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 18: U.S. President Joe Biden gestures as he delivers remarks on the COVID-19 response and the vaccination program in the East Room of the White House on August 18, 2021 in Washington, DC. During his remarks, President Biden announced that he is ordering the United States Department of Health and Human Services to require nursing homes to have vaccinated staff in order for them to receive Medicare and Medicaid funding. The President also announced that Americans would be able to receive a third booster shot against Covid-19. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
He walked out of the room after his speech, ignoring shouted questions from reporters who stood watching in disbelief.
The president has locked down his schedule for Thursday as there are no public events scheduled and no press briefings.
Despite Biden’s failure to address the controversy, he may be trying to squeeze another long weekend at his home in Delaware during the month of August.
A Federal Aviation Administration flight restriction notice suggested that Biden would leave the White House for Delaware on Wednesday and remain there until August 23.
But the president remained at the White House on Wednesday evening as his staff called a lid for the day.
Poll: Biden Approval Drops to Lowest Level After Taliban Takeover
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—President Joe Biden's approval rating dropped by 7 percentage points and hit its lowest level so far as the U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed over the weekend in an upheaval that sent thousands of civilians and Afghan military advisers fleeing for their safety, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The national opinion poll, conducted on Monday, found that 46% of American adults approved of Biden's performance in office, the lowest recorded in weekly polls that started when Biden took office in January.
It is also down from the 53% who felt the same way in a similar Reuters/Ipsos poll that ran on Friday.
Biden's popularity dropped as the Taliban brushed aside Afghan forces and entered the capital, Kabul, wiping away two decades of U.S. military presence that cost trillions of taxpayer dollars and thousands of American lives.
A separate Ipsos snap poll, also conducted on Monday, found that less than half of Americans liked the way Biden has steered the U.S. military and diplomatic effort in Afghanistan this year. The president, who just last month praised Afghan forces for being "as well-equipped as any in the world," was rated worse than the other three presidents who presided over the United States' longest war.
(Reporting by Chris Kahn; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Jonathan Oatis)
A majority of American voters believe President Joe Biden is a weak leader, according to a poll conducted this week amid the collapse of the Afghan government to the Taliban.
Fifty-three percent of registered voters who responded to the Economist/YouGov poll said Biden is weak, with 47 percent calling him strong. Thirty-nine percent said they believe Biden is a "very weak" leader. The poll queried 1,500 U.S. citizens from Aug. 14-17 and had a 3 percent margin of error.
The poll covered a period that saw Afghanistan fall into chaos in the aftermath of Biden's withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country. On Sunday, the Taliban captured Kabul and toppled the Afghan government, returning to power for the first time in 20 years. The United States and other Western countries rushed to evacuate their citizens and personnel while thousands of Afghans swarmed the Kabul airport in an attempt to escape. Some clung to aircraft and fell to their deaths as the planes took off.
Biden is underwater in a number of other metrics measured by the poll. A 44-percent plurality of voters said they are pessimistic about the next four years under Biden. Forty-nine percent of voters said they lack confidence in the president's ability to deal wisely with an international crisis, with only 39 percent expressing confidence. Biden campaigned in 2020 on a promise to restore American "credibility and influence" on the world stage.
A Reuters poll conducted Monday showed that Biden's approval rating has dropped to its lowest level yet.
Joe Biden Headed Back to Camp David to Resume His Vacation After Afghanistan Speech
President Joe Biden will return to Camp David on Monday evening to resume his vacation after returning to the White House for a few hours to deliver a speech defending his handling of the troop withdrawals from Afghanistan.
The White House released an updated schedule for the president, confirming he would return to Camp David, where he was scheduled to vacation until Wednesday.
In his speech, Biden tried to emphasize the importance of ending the American-supported conflict in Afghanistan but failed to accept his incompetent execution of the troop withdrawals.
Afghan people climb atop a plane as they wait at the Kabul airport in Kabul on August 16, 2021, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of Islamist rule. (WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)
“I am president of the United States and the buck stops with me,” he said. “I’m deeply saddened by the facts we now face but I do not regret my decision to end America’s warfighting in Afghanistan.”
But the president did not take questions from reporters about his failure in Afghanistan, as thousands of Americans remain stranded in the country.
Biden acknowledged he was overly optimistic of Afghanistan’s ability to defend itself.
“The truth is this did unfold more quickly than anticipated,” he said.
Earlier in the weekend, the president appeared reluctant to speak publicly as the crisis unfolded over the weekend, prompting heightened criticism of his handling of the situation as the capital city of Kabul fell under the Taliban’s control.
White House staff issued photos on social media of Biden taking video calls with national security and intelligence officials as proof he was taking the crisis seriously, but it did little to stem public criticism.
Staff also issued a 600-word statement in Biden’s name defending his actions but also tried to blame former President Donald Trump for the chaos taking place on his watch.
THE DANGERS OF LAWYERS IN THE WHITE HOUSE!
LAWYER JAKE SULLIVAN AND LAWYER JOE BIDEN. SEND THEM TO GITMO!
Jake Sullivan Presides Over Yet Another Foreign Policy Disaster
The Forrest Gump of American decline?
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan is at the center of yet another U.S. foreign policy disaster. During the Obama administration, in his role as a top aide to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and then-vice president Joe Biden, the highly credentialed wunderkind presided over some of the most humiliating failures in the history of American foreign policy.
Sullivan's extensive experience as an architect of American failure in Syria, Libya, Ukraine, Iran, and Myanmar, plus the fact that White House press secretary Jen Psaki is mysteriously out of the office, made him a natural choice to defend the Biden administration's handling of the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.
"It is certainly the case [that] the speed with which cities fell was much greater than anyone anticipated," Sullivan said Monday during an interview with NBC's Savannah Guthrie, who also asked about President Joe Biden's assessment that a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was "highly unlikely" and "there's going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy of the United States," as there was in Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War.
Fact check: False. Kimberley Motley, an international human-rights attorney who has worked in Afghanistan for more than a decade, described the situation in the country as a "nightmare" that was "like Saigon on steroids."
Sullivan was unable to muster a compelling response. "To be fair, the helicopter has been the mode of transport from our embassy to the airport for the last 20 years," he said as the network rolled footage of Taliban militants streaming into Kabul.
Perhaps the 44-year-old Sullivan has grown weary of presiding over epic failures. Despite being considered one of the most brilliant foreign policy experts of his generation, Sullivan's résumé is littered with embarrassing debacles, including both of Hillary Clinton's failed presidential campaigns. Afghanistan is merely the most recent example.
In 2011, as a top adviser to then-secretary Clinton, Sullivan helped orchestrate the "kinetic military action" in Libya. Even though the intervention resulted in the death of dictator Muammar Qaddafi, it is widely viewed as a failure. The U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, was assassinated during the Benghazi terrorist attacks in 2012, and the country would eventually become a haven for Islamic State militants.
Less than a month before Stevens was killed, Sullivan was among the team of experts advising then-president Barack Obama on the escalating civil war in Syria. Obama warned Bashar al-Assad, the Russian-backed dictator, that the use of chemical weapons was a "red line" that would "change my calculus" regarding U.S. military action against the regime.
Assad crossed the red line on multiple occasions, and the United States responded by taking negligible action to deter the slaughter of civilians. Assad remained in power, Russia flexed its military muscle, and the Islamic State established a caliphate in northeast Syria, wreaking havoc in Iraq as well.
During an interview with the New Yorker in 2019, Sullivan said he considered it "a great regret of mine" that "we were not able to more effectively play a role in stopping hundreds of thousands of people from dying in Syria and millions and millions more losing their homes."
By 2014, Obama's failure to enforce his "red line" on chemical weapons in Syria had changed Vladimir Putin's calculus regarding Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Once again, the United States took no significant action to deter Russian forces from destabilizing the country and annexing Crimea. The conflict would claim thousands of lives, including the 298 people aboard Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down with a Russian-made missile over eastern Ukraine.
Less than a month after Biden was sworn in as president, the government of Myanmar was ousted in a military coup conducted by individuals responsible for the genocidal atrocities perpetrated against the country's Rohingya population. Foreign Policy magazine called it "a failure of U.S. diplomacy orchestrated by some of [the Biden administration's] own players nearly a decade ago."
In other words, people like Jake Sullivan. In 2011, he was advising Clinton when she described meeting Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as an "inspiration" and touted the Obama administration's efforts in the country as a diplomatic victory. The celebration was short-lived. Aung San Suu Kyi would go on to assume a senior role in the country's government but would be widely condemned for her refusal to denounce the military's campaign of violence against the Rohingya.
Sullivan, who played a key role in negotiating the failed Iran nuclear deal in 2015, is currently leading the Biden administration's efforts to revive the controversial agreement. He will almost certainly have a major role in crafting the pathetic U.S. response to China's inevitable invasion of Taiwan. He is the Forrest Gump of American decline, and one of the best rebuttals to the American system of meritocracy.
None of these policy failures will hurt Sullivan's glowing reputation among members of the Liberal Élite. After all, his credentials are impeccable: Yale University (Phi Beta Kappa), Rhodes scholar, Yale Law School, Brookings Institution. He was a debate team champion and president of the student council in high school, where he was voted "most likely to succeed." He clerked for Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer and worked as chief counsel for Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.), where he was presumably traumatized by the abuse he suffered.
In any event, these colossal blunders will likely pale in comparison to what he will be able to accomplish as U.S. secretary of state in the Kamala Harris administration.
McConnell: Biden Ignored Military’s Advice on Afghanistan
'It was pretty obvious to me what was going to happen' if Biden bucked military advice, Senate minority leader says
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said President Biden directly ignored the advice of military leaders during briefings on the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
"I was in a number of these briefings over the last couple months, it was pretty obvious to me what was going to happen," McConnell said Monday. "I know for a fact that the president's military leaders argued against this decision. I think the president himself felt strongly about this and overruled his own military leaders to do it, and he owns it."
McConnell slammed the Biden administration for its incompetent withdrawal of thousands of Americans and Afghans. Footage emerged Monday of havoc at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, that caused civilian casualties.
"Honestly, this administration looks to me like it couldn't organize a two-car funeral," McConnell said. "It is a sad day for the United States of America."
President Biden responded Monday to critics of his withdrawal, saying he stands by his decision.
"We will continue to support the Afghan people," Biden said. "The way to do it is not through endless military deployments, but diplomacy."
Poll: Nearly 70 Percent of Americans Disapprove of Biden’s Handling of Afghanistan
Nearly 70 percent of Americans disapprove of President Joe Biden's handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to a national poll of likely voters.
The poll, conducted over the weekend by the Trafalgar Group, found that 69 percent of Americans disapprove of Biden's botched pullout, with nearly 60 percent saying they "strongly disapprove." Democrats also see the Biden administration's actions—which saw the Taliban take control of Afghanistan's civilian government in mere hours—as a failure. Forty-eight percent disapprove of Biden's military actions in the country, while just 40 percent approve.
The findings came as Biden prepared to address the American public on the ongoing crisis, cutting short his Camp David vacation. While Biden reportedly planned to wait a "few days" to discuss the fiasco, he returned to the White House Monday afternoon as U.S. evacuation efforts at the Kabul airport spiraled into a frenzy.
Just hours before Biden's scheduled speech, the White House released talking points on the issue, which state that the administration planned for a "quick fall" of Kabul. Just weeks before, however, Biden and top administration officials expressed confidence that Afghanistan's civilian government would retain control of the capital city for months, allowing American troops, civilians, and allies to exit safely.
"The jury is still out, but the likelihood there is going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely," Biden said in July.
According to Convention of States Action president Mark Meckler, the poll shows "there is absolutely no question that the American people are not buying the lies on Afghanistan."
"This is Saigon, and it's far worse," Meckler said in a statement.
Fmr CIA Analyst Zeller: Biden Lied, No Plan to Stop Allies Being Slaughtered by ‘Nazi’ Taliban
Former CIA analyst Matt Zeller told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace Monday on her show “Deadline” that President Joe Biden lied to the American people during his address on the chaotic evacuation of Afghans that worked with our military over the last 20 years.
On Biden’s speech, Zeller said, “I feel like I watched a different speech than the rest of you guys. I was appalled. There was such a profound bald-faced lie in that speech, the idea we planned for every contingency? I have been personally trying to tell this administration since it took office. I have been trying to tell our government for years this was coming. We sent them plan after plan on how to evacuate these people. Nobody listened to us. They didn’t plan for the evacuation of our Afghan war-time allies. They’re trying to conduct it now at the 11th hour.”
He continued, “I have Afghans on the ground right now who are telling me the Taliban going door to door in Kabul and making lists of people who used to work with us. They’re telling them with smiles on their face, evil smiles. They will be back for them once we leave. So we either take them now, or these people are going to die. I have been trying to tell anyone who will listen that this is a never-again moment in the making. This is an administration that seems to be a profound champion and defender of human rights. Well, sometimes, human rights have to be defended at the barrel end of a gun. The Taliban are a modern version of the Nazis.”
Zeller added, “I’m not going to sit and list eastbound to a president that I voted for. I was happy this man took office. I’m now appalled at that speech. I’m not going to sit here and have him lie to the American people. We did not plan as a government for this contingency. The American people, the advocates who have been pleading with the government, did plan for it. You can go to our website, evacuateourallies.org. We have had a plan. We have receipts. I put them on social media. No one got back with us. No, no, I’m not going to let them get away with this. We have to take these people. We have to take them now, or they are going to die.”
He concluded, “These people went on to the next unit and the next mission time and time and time again, and how dare us to even contemplate leaving them behind to, again, what I consider to be a modern equivalent of the Nazi Party.
Watch: In 2003, Joe Biden Defended Nation-Building in Afghanistan
President Joe Biden repeatedly condemned the idea of “nation-building” in Afghanistan during his speech on Monday, but in 2003 he defended the idea of standing with the Afghan people.
During a February hearing that year on rebuilding Afghanistan in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden warned the United States needed to stay involved in the country.
“In some parts in the administration, nation-building is still a dirty phrase but the alternative to nation-building is chaos,” Biden said, warning that the ensuing chaos only generated more terrorists, warlords, and drug trafficking.”
The Senate hearing took place with Interim President Hamid Karzai, where Biden defended the idea of staying in the country.
“The facts make one thing very clear, we have a great deal of work left to do in Afghanistan and a continued obligation to the men sitting in front of us to allow them to be able to do the work that needs to be done,” Biden said.
Biden warned that when warlords and drug traffickers took over a country, it became a haven for terrorism.
“That’s what happened under the Taliban and I believe if we’re not careful it’s going to happen again,” he said.
Dem Rep. Moulton: Current Afghanistan Operation a ‘Failure’ and Biden Didn’t Plan for This Situation
On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) said the ongoing operation in Afghanistan is a “failure” and President Joe Biden’s claim that his administration planned for every possibility in Afghanistan is false, because “if they had planned for this contingency, then they would have gotten our friends and allies out of Afghanistan a long time ago” like some in Congress urged the administration to, and then “we wouldn’t see the chaotic scenes at Kabul Airport today.”
Moulton said, “[W]hat matters today is the operation that’s ongoing in Afghanistan. That’s the failure that we’re talking about. That’s the operation that we need to fix. Because there are thousands of innocent lives on the line, and, make no mistake, it is still within the power of the United States to save those lives. So, I appreciate the fact that Joe Biden made, in some ways, a compelling case for his decision, but what we should be focused on right now is what’s happening on the ground in Afghanistan.”
He added, “Well, the president said in his speech that they planned for every contingency. But if they had planned for this contingency, then they would have gotten our friends and allies out of Afghanistan a long time ago. And that’s why I’ve been calling on the administration, for the last several months, to evacuate our allies, to evacuate American citizens, dispense with this bureaucratic special immigrant visa process, you can sort that out once they get to a safe place, just get these people out. If they had done that, we wouldn’t see the chaotic scenes at Kabul Airport today. So, I don’t see how he can make the case that he planned for this contingency. It’s clearly catching us by surprise.”
Rubio: Biden Admin ‘Arrogantly,’ ‘Smugly’ Ignored Afghanistan Warning Signs
Monday on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) argued the warnings signs for what has occurred in Afghanistan after the precipitous U.S. withdrawal of military forces were ignored by the Biden administration.
The Florida Republican said the vacuum left behind could also mean the return of al Qaeda to the region.
“Sean, not just did I tell them, but it was a bipartisan warning, OK?” he said. “You look at the intelligence, you look at everything before us, it was clear that not only it was the worst-case scenario out there, it was the likeliest outcome that was going to happen, and we kept insisting, what is the plan of this happens? What is the plan? And they arrogantly, and they smugly ignored it. They ignored everyone who was warning them because they’re the experts, they know everything, and now we’ve seen the consequences.”
“There are two things now to keep in mind,” Rubio continued. “Number one is Joe Biden was elected promising competence, the return on normalcy, the return of expertise to foreign policy, and we see that they can’t even execute on something like this and ignore the people who know something about it. That does encourage people like China — countries like China and other adversaries not just to go out and try to undermine confidence in America, but actually test America and think they can get away with it.”
“And the other is something that the Pentagon’s already saying, and we’ve already been saying for close to nine months, the biggest problem here is going to be now that al Qaeda is coming back to Afghanistan, let there be no doubt,” he added. “They are coming back. They will reconstitute. They will pose a threat again, and this administration has no plan whatsoever to prevent that from happening.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
Et tu, Atlantic? Mainstream media pitch Biden over the side
A few days ago, on Aug. 14, I wrote about CNN's sudden about-face on Joe Biden's performance in Afghanistan.
It was a shocking, stunning change; it wasn't half-hearted stuff. The Trump-hating news site ran a devastating — and insightful — analysis pinning the blame for the Afghanistan fiasco squarely on Joe Biden. Prior to that, the network had carried water for him, skewed the news, and engaged in sycophancy, to the point of ending up a target of James O'Keefe.
Now it's The Atlantic's turn.
Just this morning they ran three bam, bam, bam commentaries that also pinned the blame for the fiasco squarely where it belonged — not on President Trump, but on wretched Joe Biden.
They're all satisfactory reading, the first piece, somewhat liberal, by Russell Berman called:
The Deadly Cost of Biden's Delay
Why was the administration so slow to evacuate U.S. allies in Afghanistan trying to flee the Taliban?
Which went into the string of mistakes, miscalculations, idiocies, and consequences of the unfolding Afghanistan fiasco. Biden, the piece said, was not only stupid and incompetent, but he was also politically motivated, and callous to boot.
The second, by Graeme Wood, was even more brutal:
This Is Not the Taliban 2.0
The group's claims of having changed are probably more reassuring to those unfamiliar with its history.
This one argued that the Taliban had never changed its stripes, and its tyranny was monstrous. Joe Biden was a patsy for believing them in negotiations, and like a total idiot, he still believed them. It's a hell of a takedown.
The third, by Peter Wehner, is the most hard-hitting of all:
Biden's Long Trail of Betrayals
Why is the president so consistently wrong on major foreign-policy matters?
It gives a line-by-line bullet-point description of every last foreign policy blunder that Biden has been involved with, revealing a shockingly long list. And it's insightful:
What the Biden foreign-policy record shows, I think, is a man who behaves as if he knows much more than he does, who has far too much confidence in his own judgment in the face of contrary advice from experts. (My hunch is he's overcompensating for an intellectual inferiority complex, which has manifested itself in his history of plagiarism, lying about his academic achievements, and other embellishments.)
On national-security matters, President Biden lacks some of the most important qualities needed in those who govern — discernment, wisdom, and prudence; the ability to anticipate unfolding events; the capacity to make the right decision based on incomplete information; and the willingness to adjust one's analysis in light of changing circumstances.
To put it in simple terms, Joe Biden has bad judgment.
It's also spot-on, revealing the hollowness of the man.
The Atlantic up until now has been a big water-carrier for leftist causes, really bad ones, and suddenly it's gotten readable.
It's not the only one, either. ABC News has some sharp questioners in the press pool for the Defense Department's Five O'Clock Follies. NBC News has the impressive correspondent Richard Engel, whose knowledge of what's going on is not papered over at all. Even the New York Times and MSNBC have turned on Biden. It's almost as if some talking points have gone out, and the press is turning on a dime. The Mandate of Heaven Is Fallen?
But even as that seems to be the broader picture, CNN and the Atlantic stand out. Perhaps that's because these two have lost more money than the others, The Atlantic reportedly losing $10 million. Perhaps someone noticed that lies don't sell, so now they're deciding to report the hard truths.
Whatever it may be, it's noteworthy that the press has fallen away from Biden's side. They're not sounding like court eunuchs asking ice cream questions anymore. And Biden is beginning to run away from them. All that seems really obvious is that Biden no longer has the press doing his bidding. What that portends as the Afghan disaster unfolds is anyone's guess.
Image: Screen shot from ABC News video via shareable YouTube.
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