Joe Biden was widely criticized for his repeatedly invoking his late son Beau in the aftermath of the Kabul airport bombing that resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. service members. It seems that White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki didn’t get the memo that invoking Biden’s personal losses is inappropriate. When asked about the botched airstrike in Afghanistan that killed an aid worker and seven children, Psaki cited Biden’s personal losses.
“Following up on the drone strike last week that the Pentagon now admits was a tragic mistake. What was the President’s response when he learned about that?” asked CBS News reporter Ed O’Keefe.
“Well, the president was briefed on Friday morning about the report that was going to be released and put out, I would say, first, the president’s view, and all of our view, is that the loss of any civilian life is a tragedy, as was, as was made clear in the comments by the secretary of Defense by General McKenzie, this was done in error. And clearly, the investigation that will continue is something the president broadly supports,” Psaki said.
“So, as a human being, as a president, as somebody who has overseen loss in a variety of scenarios, both as a leader and personally, it is his reaction is it’s a tragedy and every loss is a tragedy, and he supports the efforts to, the effort to move this forward as quickly as possible and to have a thorough investigation,” she continued.
Psaki invokes Biden's dead son & daughter as proof he emphasizes w/the families of the Afghans that the U.S. government accidentally droned to death: "As a human being, as a President,. as somebody who has overseen loss…as a leader & personally, his reaction is it's a tragedy" pic.twitter.com/Co3N32s0yY
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 20, 2021
By now, the whole world knows that in 1972, Joe Biden lost his wife and daughter in a car accident and that back in 2015 he lost his son Beau to brain cancer. Beau may have served in the military, but that doesn’t mean Joe Biden understands what it’s like to lose a child in combat, as he repeatedly suggested. Similarly, losing his wife and daughter in a car accident isn’t the same as approving an airstrike that blew up a car full of kids. Yet there was Psaki somehow finding common ground between the two, as if we’re supposed to forget that Biden, the commander-in-chief, is responsible for the airstrike. Should Biden not be criticized for the botched airstrike (which he originally claimed was a success) because he lost his wife and daughter 49 years ago? For what other reason would Psaki invoke Biden’s past personal losses?
Biden keeps shamelessly referencing his family tragedies after a politically damaging incident. It’s disturbing that his administration thinks this is a good tactic.
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