On Monday’s edition of The Lead, CNN’s Jake Tapper probably put it best when he said that President Biden had to be “forced” to make a public statement about his disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, which left thousands of Americans and allies trapped in Kabul and scrambling for their lives.
Immediately after Biden delivered his address and left without taking questions – to return to the vacation the world so rudely interrupted – Tapper called out how the president had to be rhetorically dragged to address the American people.
“You've been listening to President Biden speaking at the White House, forced to talk about the worsening crisis in Afghanistan, forced to speak to the nation after the calamity of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan,” he said.
Tapper further chided Biden by noting how “this foreign policy and humanitarian disaster” caused by the president’s incompetence “proves to him that he made the right decision.” And pointed out the ridiculousness of the fluctuating troop numbers:
The president stated he stands squarely behind the decision he made to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan even though he has, in fact, been forced to send roughly 6,000 back in. The president saying, in fact, that, if anything, the events of the last few days, this foreign policy and humanitarian disaster proves to him that he made the right decision, given the fleeing of Afghan politicians from the country and the collapse of the Afghan military.
“The president said that the buck stopped with him, but, in fact, the speech was full of finger-pointing and blame, especially for the Afghans,” Tapper added, highlighting Biden’s lies and hypocrisy.
He eve took Biden to take for trying to shift blame to Afghanis for leaving Americans to scramble to the airport in fear for their lives:
Even saying that while the U.S. would be working to rescue those Americans and U.S. allies who needed to be saved, he claimed part of the reason why the U.S. did not save sooner Afghan allies – the translators and others who worked with the U.S. Military, who fear being slaughtered by the Taliban – they didn't act sooner because some Afghans, he claimed, did not want to leave earlier because they were hopeful about a new Afghan government.
Mr. Biden also said that the Afghan government discouraged the U.S. from ordering a mass exodus for fear of triggering a crisis of confidence, the president said. Mr. Biden also focused on the larger decision to end the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, that was in fact his larger focus, whether or not the U.S. should continue to be there.
Even before the Biden’s address, Tapper was out there arguing that the obvious crisis at the airport was “a clear indication of inept planning" from the White House. He also shot down the administration’s suggestion that what we were seeing was not Biden’s Saigon moment, noting “Biden now has images, as part of his legacy, that are arguably far worse" than the Saigon airlift.
This was far better than what CNN host Fareed Zakaria, who said Biden was “brave” for giving his speech.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s The Lead
August 16, 2021
4:20:23 p.m. EasternJAKE TAPPER: You've been listening to President Biden speaking at the White House, forced to talk about the worsening crisis in Afghanistan, forced to speak to the nation after the calamity of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
The president stated he stands squarely behind the decision he made to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan even though he has, in fact, been forced to send roughly 6,000 back in. The president saying, in fact, that, if anything, the events of the last few days, this foreign policy and humanitarian disaster proves to him that he made the right decision, given the fleeing of Afghan politicians from the country and the collapse of the Afghan military.
The president said that the buck stopped with him, but, in fact, the speech was full of finger-pointing and blame, especially for the Afghans. Even saying that while the U.S. would be working to rescue those Americans and U.S. allies who needed to be saved, he claimed part of the reason why the U.S. did not save sooner Afghan allies – the translators and others who worked with the U.S. Military, who fear being slaughtered by the Taliban – they didn't act sooner because some Afghans, he claimed, did not want to leave earlier because they were hopeful about a new Afghan government.
Mr. Biden also said that the Afghan government discouraged the U.S. from ordering a mass exodus for fear of triggering a crisis of confidence, the president said. Mr. Biden also focused on the larger decision to end the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, that was in fact his larger focus, whether or not the U.S. should continue to be there.
He did not really get into or accept any blame for the catastrophic exit that we have been watching on television in the last several days.
(…)
