Our historic national humiliation proceeds in Afghanistan. Animatronic Joe Biden took the lectern in the Roosevelt Room and summoned the press to attend to “Remarks on Tropical Storm Henri and the Evacuation Operation in Afghanistan” (the White House text is linked, the White House video is below).
One of these subjects is not like the other. Tropical Storm Henri is a natural disaster. The operation in Afghanistan is a Biden-made disaster.
As usual, Biden summoned the press to watch him stare vacantly into the teleprompter and watch him struggle to read his lines. At the very top of his remarks, Biden blocked on the name of the FEMA Administrator. The animatronic circuits ultimately fired up to yield “Ms. Criswell.”
Biden turned to acknowledged “Ms. Criswell” and must have lost his place in the text. Ms. Criswell had brief Biden on the “the flash flooding in Waverly, Tennessee, and surrounding areas in Tennessee.” Together with the update on Tropical Storm Henri, this was weird beyond Biden’s Baghdad Bob routine.
Animatronic Joe Biden appears to have no awareness of the events in process or of their meaning. He seeks to assure us that all is well, events are proceeding as planned, and everyone is happy with us. If his minders had any sense of shame, they would resign.
Among the headlines in the AP morning update are “Gunfire at Kabul airport kills 1; Taliban mass near Panjshir” and “Kabul airlift is accelerating but still hampered by chaos.” They are hard to square with animatronic Joe Biden’s remarks yesterday afternoon.
Our dependence on the cooperation of the Taliban and the scripted cluelessness of animatronic Joe contribute to the historic national humiliation that is in process. “And so, so far,” he stated, “the Taliban has not taken action against U.S. forces. So far, they have, by and large, followed through what they said, in terms of allowing Americans to pass through, and the like.” And yet excuses must be made in advance: “And I’m sure they don’t control all of their forces. It’s a ragtag force. And so, we’ll see. We’ll see whether or not what they say turns out to be true.”
This is the heart of the problem: “My job is to make judgments. My job is to make judgments no one else can or will make. I made them.”
Animatronic Joe Biden has been briefed to say this: “Look, the Taliban has a — the Taliban has to make a fundamental decision: Is the Taliban going to attempt to be able to unite and provide for the wellbeing of the people of Afghanistan, which no one group has ever done since before dealing — for hundreds of years. And if it does, it’s going to need everything from additional help, in terms of economic assistance, trades, and a whole range of things.”
Animatronic Joe Biden took a few questions from preselected members of the media. He was not programmed to take questions on our materiel left behind in our rush for the exit.
As I say, if his minders had any sense of shame, they would resign. But they don’t and won’t.
Quotable quote: “That remains to be seen whether we ask that question.”
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