Media Starts To Turn On Biden Over Afghanistan
Debunked claims of "Is Biden senile?" appears to gain new life
Even as President Biden attempts to demonstrate that he remains in full command over the events in Afghanistan, there are new signs that members of the press are turning on him.
It's bad enough that Chris Wallace, of Fox News, appeared to resuscitate the debunked right-wing “Is Biden senile?” line of attack, which Biden and White House officials had hoped they had put long behind them.
The result is that, once again in just a matter of days, Biden's threatened with losing control of the political narrative for the largest foreign policy challenge of his presidency thus far.
Biden spoke to the nation again Sunday — for the second time in as many days — this time addressing both the events in Afghanistan, as well as the federal response to storm Henri, which pounded the Northeast over the weekend.
Members of the media appeared to turn anew against Biden's handling of the chaotic evacuation of Americans and others out of newly Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Perhaps most damaging to Biden has been fact-checking of his public statements — which in some cases, the president appeared to be either ignorant or dishonest regarding the facts.
“Mr. Secretary, does the president not know what's going on?” Wallace asked of Secretary of State Antony Blinken during an on-air interview Sunday.
Wallace pointed out to Blinken specific areas where the president's statements didn't mesh with reality.
“I'm not questioning whether or not Al Qaeda has a presence [in Afghanistan]. The president said Al Qaeda is gone. It's not gone. The president said he's not heard any criticism from the allies. There's been a lot of criticism from the allies,” Wallace said. “Words matter. And the words of the president matter most.”
Criticism of Biden was hardly limited to Fox News, which long has opposed the president on even the best of days.
Julie Pace, Washington bureau chief at the Associated Press, made much the same point.
“There’s a serious disconnect from the messaging from the Biden administration, which is, essentially, 'We’ve got this. We have a plan. We’re getting this under control. If you want to get out of Afghanistan, you can,’ and what we’re seeing on the ground from brave reporters who are there from a lot of Afghan civilians who are sharing pictures of images of the scene outside the airport where no, you cannot get out if you want to get out,” she said.
Perhaps most damaging was CNN's Jeff Zeleny, who echoed many of the same concerns Sunday — despite praising Biden's performance on Friday.
“What he was saying did not match the reality of what his other advisers were saying. You were in the room, Kaitlan, when he was asked about allies, essentially suggesting allies are not upset at the U.S. Or embittered by this. And that’s just not the case,” he said on-air in a roundtable with CNN colleague Kaitlan Collins. “I think this will be a very defining moment in the Biden presidency about what we learn of him as president, but it seems to me he’s a bit insulated or isolated inside the White House.”
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