Tipsheet

The Return of Hidin' Joe Biden

Spencer Brown
Spencer Brown  |  August 16, 2021 11:05 AM

Update:

The White House has announced that Joe Biden, caving under pressure to emerge and speak on the situation in Afghanistan, will return to the White House from Camp David and address the nation at 3:45 p.m. Monday. 

Original Post:

The Taliban have entered Kabul, Afghanistan's president has fled the country, Afghan citizens are clinging in vain to the sides of departing military transport planes, and Joe Biden has an empty public schedule Monday. His chief spokesperson Jen Psaki is on vacation. Vice President Kamala 'We Did It' Harris is refusing to speak to reporters but is happy to tweet about getting vaccinated. Secretary of State Antony Blinken got taken to the woodshed on CNN as Kabul fell.

The Biden administration has failed, tragically and spectacularly, not only to orchestrate a withdrawal of U.S. personnel and Afghan allies but also to show any semblance of leadership as the world watches in horror and America's enemies lick their chops. 

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It's a display of weakness and it's a betrayal for the Pentagon, White House, and State Department to offer no answers as to how this happened, even if just for the families of all those who served or gave their lives over the last twenty years and who deserve to know why their loved ones' sacrifices ultimately ended in this. 

When Joe Biden conducted a policy review of U.S. options regarding Afghanistan, what were the other proposals for handling a U.S. withdrawal? And why did Biden choose the option that led to what's now unfolding? Why did President Biden say Afghanistan wasn't going to fall to the Taliban? Did he have bad intelligence or was he simply lying to the American people?

What did the Secretary of Defense know about the capabilities of the Afghan security forces, and were reports of their ability to repel the Taliban accurate? Or did Lloyd Austin oversee more of the same overly optimistic reports that led the Obama administration to minimize the threat posed by ISIS when Austin was in charge of CENTCOM?

Did Antony Blinken and the State Department know how many Afghan allies of the United States would need to be processed and flown out of the country to the United States or other safe-haven countries to await vetting? If so, why did the process of issuing Special Immigrant Visas start so late that processing couldn't be completed before the Taliban took Kabul? Why did the State Department insist the U.S. wasn't evacuating the now-evacuated outpost?

These are just some of the questions the American people — especially those who bravely put their lives on the line in service to our country and the families of those who made the ultimate sacrifice — should have answered. But Joe Biden and our nation's leaders are nowhere to be found.

"The President of the United States is a deserter," tweeted Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY). "It is unconscionable that the United States president is nowhere to be found," said House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA). "If Joe Biden doesn't address the country today we should all have serious doubts about his ability to lead our country for another three years," said Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), who served in Afghanistan.