The aftermath of President Biden’s decision to proceed with the previously negotiated withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan has dominated the media for the past week. To be sure, any retreat from failed military operations cannot be expected to be free of difficulty. And there are troubling images of desperate Afghans seeking to escape the anticipated tyranny of Taliban rule.
Unfortunately, much of the media coverage has focused on melodramatic moments that lack context. The press as a whole seems to have forgotten what Afghanistan was like prior to the U.S. invasion in 2001. In short, it was pretty much the same then as it will be going forward once the evacuation is complete. No better, no worse, and no discernible benefit from twenty years of occupation. The lesson to be learned is not one about predictable hardships following a lengthy war in hostile territory, but about the futility of waging such wars in the first place.
Not surprisingly, Fox News has taken the most preposterous positions regarding the end of the Afghanistan adventure. They have entirely ignored that the original, severely flawed agreement to leave was negotiated by the Trump administration (which he is still bragging about). That deal has been rebuked by Trump’s own National Security Adviser, General H.R. McMaster, as a “surrender agreement.” It lifted all sanctions on the Taliban and freed 5,000 of their imprisoned fighters, but got nothing in return.
What’s more, while Fox News harshly criticizes the Biden administration’s handling of efforts to evacuate Afghans who helped the U.S. during the two decade occupation, they are simultaneously complaining about the prospect of bringing those refugees to America. Tucker Carlson has labeled them “invaders” who are “coming to your neighborhood.”
On Sunday’s episode of Fox and Friends, co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy went to even more bizarre lengths to malign Biden. She began by regurgitating the tedious Fox News trope that Biden is mentally unfit to serve as president (video below):
“I look at this and I think ‘Wow. We had a president who was impeached over a phone call.’ This looks like a much more impeachable offense. If you ask me, I know that’s probably, technically it’s probably not, but when you look at what’s hurting America, when you look at the lack of leadership, and you wonder who are the people responsible for putting someone this incompetent, and frankly this, you know, mentally frail in this position?”
Note that the American people already made their judgment about that by overwhelmingly voting for Biden. And they had previously determined that it was Trump who doesn’t have the mental soundness to serve (according to a Fox News poll, no less). Also, Trump wasn’t impeached “over a phone call.” It was his treasonous effort to pressure the president of Ukraine to interfere in the U.S. election that resulted in the first of his two impeachments.
As for grounds to impeach Biden, Campos-Duffy admits that there aren’t any. (unlike Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is apparently even more ignorant of the Constitution than she is). But her craziness was just getting started.
“Of course the media and many people are saying – you had some people on your show this week who were saying it was Susan Rice and Obama and maybe Valerie Jarrett. I’m sorry, as a political spouse, I can’t help but look at Jill Biden, No one knew better his state of mind than Dr. Jill Biden. And if you ask me, the most patriotic thing Jill Biden could have done was tell her husband – to love her husband and not let him run in this mental state that he’s in. I think she failed the country as well.”
So now it’s all Jill Biden’s fault? Never mind that Campos-Duffy didn’t bother to cite a single example of any behavior by the President that would warrant such concerns. She still managed to place the blame on a woman, and one who is highly accomplished and respected.
However, Campos-Duffy never had any concerns about Melania Trump’s tolerance of her husband’s obvious cognitive deficiencies. After all, Donald Trump believed that stealth fighters are actually invisible, that windmills cause cancer, that we should nuke hurricanes, that George Washington’s Army took over airports, and that injecting bleach will cure COVID.
Melania never said a single word about any of that. Clearly she is not a patriot and is responsible for all of the harm that Trump caused during his four years of non-stop incoherence, ignorance, incompetence, and raging hostility. Is too late to impeach her?
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How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.
We must remember that the grumpy lump drew down the troops in Afghanistan to 2500 only a couple of weeks before Biden took office and denied any transition meetings with the Department of Defense or the vastly weakened and depleted State Department. Furthermore, Steven, I love to hate, Miller had a strong hand in preventing any vetting or approving any visas while the orange demagogue was in office.
The melting away of Afghani troops was assured when they weren’t being paid, due to massive corruption, and President Ghani fled his residence and office much in the same way as in medieval times when a king was killed when he and his army was sieging a fortress. The army of the king could not retreat fast enough. No leader – no pay.
Jerry, a grand wrap-up ya did here at what really occurred to get us at this point, but may I add that this was one of Biden’s promises concerning ‘American nation building’ and regardless of his popularity dropping he did it. Afghanistan is pretty much the way it was 20 years ago and he wasn’t about to hand this Afghani situation off to other presidents for another 20 years of the same scenario at the expense of military lives…
You are both absolutely correct! Now, how do we get that out there, loud & clear?!?
Dem Party establishment does little to nothing to speak out with such truths, forcefully & often, which IS what’s needing to happen. It’s what the ReTrumplicans excel at with their many lies ~ they’re heard over & over, nonstop. Ad nauseum. The truth matters not, if it isn’t being heard in equal portion. Something Dem leadership has yet to get thru their thick skulls!
The MSM news has shown themselves not to be of the caliber of say, Walter Cronkite & others of that time. Now, our newscasts appear to be more like “tabloid tramps”. Even the more reliable newsrooms go for the flashy, the visual, the ratings – it’s a costly business these days. It’s up to those with a message to MAKE themselves heard; to take the initiative & get the truth out there.
Faux Propaganda Network (FPN) & the Rethugs make that their priority & make it EZ for all media outlets to broadcast their bullshit.
If only the truth spoke as loudly & consistently…
(re: Trump’s Surrender Ag.)
“It lifted all sanctions on the Taliban and freed 5,000 of their imprisoned fighters, but got nothing in return.”
Well…the USA got zilch in return.
That would be THE WORST deal any businessman ever made, if true. I am fairly certain that if we looked hard & deep into deal Trump made with ’em, HE likely did get something in return for all that he gave away!? Trump says “all relationships are transactional” ~ highly doubtful that he’d give all that w/o getting “a little sumpin’ sumpin’…for his efforts.” It would make him a ” loser” & he’d never allow that!
The 1 in 1,000,000 chance he did not, might be if he wasn’t yet sure of what he could get away with & keep it secret as POTUS.
Grifters grift! If they breathe; they grift. NO ethics/morals to get in the way, just a matter of how not to get caught ~ being POTUS was full of mega-$$$-grifting opportunities. That is, after all, why he took the gig…sure wasn’t about actually doing the hard work, or for the Country’s benefit! He is a certifiable Malignant Narcissist ~ they ONLY care about themselves…& that’s simply a fact; not an option for them.
What concerns me most about Ms. Stuffy-Duffy is that she seems to be “reframing the narrative” ~ a long-time favorite tactic of GOP & 1 at which they’re very sly. Any eventual ‘pushback’ is always too late to do much good.
Why don’t Dems just frame the narrative themselves, instead of futile rebutting attempts after the fact? (I really don’t get that.)
Here, Ms. Duffy has suggested:
1)…that making a mistake, or handling something less than ideally, should be grounds for impeachment of POTUS. (Lindsey Graham is promoting the same idea.) If THAT were the case, Trump would’ve been impeached right off the bat & we’d be impeaching every U.S. President! Is that really what they/we want? No one could lead this nation at all if that were the case. That is NOT grounds for impeachment & they dam* well know it! Yet, they’re putting it out there, as if it IS reason for impeachment.
2)…more subtle even than that, is that she questions ‘who put this person in Office?’ She says it in a way seeming to suggest that Democrats (or American voters in general?) cannot be trusted to vote in a proper President!?!
Subtleties aside ~ Our right to choose our own elected leaders is the very cornerstone of our democracy!
What she said:
“…when you look at what’s hurting America….lack of leadership, and you wonder who are the people responsible for putting someone this incompetent, and frankly this, you know, mentally frail in this position?”
Ponder this:
*What’s hurting America?
*Lack of leadership?
*Incompetent?
*Mentally frail?
~ That describes Donald Trump to a “T”!!
Not Pres. Biden.
“Of course the media and many people are saying…” Ye Gods, they even sound like FrumpetArse. Are they not aware that he’s dropped them?