President Joe Biden spoke to members of the press on Saturday after laying a wreath at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The president did not speak, but rather released video remarks the day before, from his official Twitter account.
A reporter asked the president if he thinks "this marks a new phase for the country as it experiences this anniversary 20 years later?"
Biden cited experts asking if al Qaeda can come back, to which he said "yeah, but guess what? It's already back in other places."
"What’s the strategy? Every place where al Qaeda is we’re going to invade and have troops stay there? Come on," he continued.
The president also claimed that 70 percent of the American people thought it was time to get Afghanistan, as he pointed out on account of "spending all that money."
He did acknowledge that people weren't happy with how we left, but he largely dismissed such a concern. "But the flip of it is, they didn’t like the way we got out. But it’s hard to explain to anybody how else could you get out," he said. "For example, if we were in Tajikistan and we pulled up with a C-130 and said, 'We’re going to let, you know, anybody who was involved with being sympathetic to us to get on the plane,' you’d have people hanging in the wheel well. Come on."
To say that the American people "didn't like the way we got out" is an understatement. Not even Democrats are thrilled with how Biden handled the withdrawal.
With regards to "people hanging in the wheel well," that was indeed the case during evacuations from Afghanistan. Two people died falling to their deaths after hanging onto an airplane trying to escape the country.
Joe Biden dismisses concerns over images and videos of Afghans falling thousands of feet to their deaths trying to escape Taliban rule in Afghanistan:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 18, 2021
“That was four days ago, five days ago.” pic.twitter.com/AIDFvGZMb4
When Biden was pressed on it in an interview last month with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, he dismissed it, saying "that was four days ago, five days ago." Besides how insensitive the remark was, it was actually less than four or five days prior.
Polls consistently show Biden's approval ratings have taken a serious dip, including to the point of record lows for him.