August 26, 2021, was one of the darkest, bleakest, and humiliating days in American history. Joe Biden was our president (he “saved democracy,” you know). As the commander-in-chief, he directed our safe, orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan, working in concert with the Armed Forces and his crackerjack team of ace advisors. Have no fear: President Biden and Vice President Harris were in charge.
In fact, Biden made this announcement to the press: “The drawdown is proceeding in a secure and orderly way, prioritizing the safety of our troops as they depart.”
The reporters then asked a few questions. Among them:
REPORTER: Is a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan now inevitable?
BIDEN: No, it is not.
REPORTER: Why?
BIDEN: Because you — the Afghan troops — have 300,000 well-equipped — as well-equipped as any army in the world — and an air force, against something like 75,000 Taliban. It is not inevitable.
See? Biden’s got this! And lest you be concerned that ugly history might repeat itself, consider this part of the Q&A:
REPORTER: Mr. President, some Vietnamese veterans see echoes of their experience in the withdrawal in Afghanistan. Do you see any parallels between this withdrawal and what happened in Vietnam, with some people feeling —
BIDEN: None whatsoever. Zero. What you had is — you had entire brigades breaking through the gate of our embassy — six, if I’m not mistaken.
The Taliban is not the south — the North Vietnamese army. They’re not — they’re not remotely comparable in terms of capability. There’s going to be no circumstance where you see people lifted off the roof of a embassy in the — of the United States from Afghanistan. [emphasis added]
Later on, he assured us: “But the likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely.”
Oops.
As we now know, it was an unmitigated disaster. 13 Americans were killed: 11 Marines, one Navy corpsman, one soldier. From the embassy to the emergency airlifts to the Taliban running roughshod over all of Afghanistan, almost everything the Biden-Harris administration told us was exactly wrong.
So naturally, NPR decided it was Trump’s fault.
In a new “All Things Considered” (“The chaotic U.S. exit from Afghanistan in 2021 had stems from four administration”), NPR tried to absolve the Democrats — including the Biden-Harris administration — of any direct culpability. Nah, this was just one of those, “Gosh guys, everyone makes mistakes, that’s why pencils have erasers!” kind of deals.
NPR’s objectives are transparent in the first two sentences: “Former President Trump blames the Biden-Harris White House for the collapse of Afghanistan and the chaotic U.S. withdrawal in 2021. But the fault lines lie with successive American administrations.”
Abracadabra! This is a magic trick so epic, even David Copperfield wouldn’t try it. (Although, let’s be honest: David Copperfield’s greatest trick was landing Claudia Schiffer.) Still, the attempt to portray the White House’s utter incompetence as an “everyone’s hands are messy, guys!” situation is chutzpah with an exponent.
The article continues:
“There is a lot of failure to go around to the four presidents over the 20 years of war…” “…There were a lot of mistakes made during four administrations.”
Not to mention some inexplicably deadly mistakes by the last administration. But let’s not talk about that: There’s more history to whitewash.
At the first presidential debate, Joe Biden told the American people, “The truth is, I’m the only president this century that doesn’t have any — this decade — any troops dying anywhere in the world like he did.”
The Democrats and the media are playing a magic trick: They want those 13 dead Americans to vanish. Ignore Afghanistan. Pretend it never happened: There’s an election to win! Bow and tip your hat.
And then say “ta-da.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member