Biden Administration Is Counting on Americans to Lose Interest in Afghanistan: Report
President Joe Biden intends to navigate his way through his administration’s deadly and botched Afghanistan exit by hoping Americans have a short memory, according to a report.
Reuters on Friday reported the 78-year-old, who mostly remained hidden this last week as images from Afghanistan have left the world in shock, will hedge his political future on the idea that Americans are tired of war in the Middle East.
“Biden and his top aides argue they are managing an evacuation mission as well as could be expected given the faster-than-anticipated takeover of the country by Taliban insurgents, and are seeking to draw attention back to the choice to get U.S. troops out of the country,” Reuters noted after speaking to people close to the White House.
The wire service quoted an anonymous alleged Biden ally who stated the president and his advisers expect the American people to quickly forget what they’ve seen this past week.
“The public opinion is pretty damn clear that Americans wanted out of the ongoing war and don’t want to get back in. It’s true today and it’s going to be true in six months,” the source said. “It isn’t about not caring or being empathetic about what’s going on over there, but worrying about what’s happening in America.”
Reuters reported the White House conducted internal and public polling which showed ending the war in Afghanistan is Biden’s most popular decision, even if people are not happy with how the mission concluded.
It ended, of course, with the Taliban taking over Kabul and killing civilians with connections to the U.S.
“They expect the Afghanistan story to recede from the headlines, replaced by the resurgence in COVID-19 cases, the economic recovery and other issues, people familiar with the matter said,” Reuters reported.
The report itself brought about a backlash online for its elitist tone:
It’s not our attention spans that are in question here. @ComfortablySmug https://t.co/fxCxNIwDyW
— I Might Be Donna (@Crypsis12) August 20, 2021
Quite a policy plan. https://t.co/yFd1lXlS4f
— BiasedGirl (@BiasedGirl) August 20, 2021
Typical Dem miscalculation, because the fall-out will include a total distrust of Biden as CINC, especially in the military and among millions of vets. He may become more toxic than Clinton and Obama, no matter how much he mentions his son, Beau. https://t.co/abuuu80Uyh
— libertybelle (@october601) August 20, 2021
The only thing Americans hate more than war is losing one.
Unlike the disgrace he was part of as a Senator in 1975, the cause of this failure will not wash away. https://t.co/7olwekut9Z
— cdrsalamander (@cdrsalamander) August 20, 2021
Gawd the naivity; the Republicans are very interested they will make this the biggest election issue since Saigon. They have been waiting for something like this and suddenly it’s Christmas. Silly man, he just isnt up to the job.
— Vici Martynov (@Vicibox) August 20, 2021
Hoping Americans have a short memory seems to be something of a pattern strategy for Biden with regard to the chaos in Afghanistan. In an interview with ABC News this week, Biden brushed off images of Afghans falling thousands of feet to their deaths from an aircraft that left Kabul.
“[W]e’ve all seen the pictures. We’ve seen those hundreds of people packed in a C-17. We’ve seen Afghans falling,” George Stephanopoulos said.
“That was four days ago, five days ago,” Biden fired back.
I CANNOT believe that THIS is our “Commander-in-Chief.” Whet a sad embarrassment…
Stephanopoulos: “We’ve seen Afghans falling [from a plane]…”
Pres. Biden: “That was four days ago, five days ago!”pic.twitter.com/IeHESb9ZgU
— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) August 19, 2021
The comments went viral, and the entire interview drew bipartisan criticism.
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