Byron York’s Daily Memo: Don t underestimate Joe s ability to f k things up
Meanwhile, the president’s top general, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mark Milley, said he was surprised by how quickly things had gone to hell in Afghanistan. “The timeframe of a rapid collapse, that was widely estimated and ranged from weeks to months and even years following our departure,” Milley told the press Wednesday. “There was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 11 days.”
Not long after, the Babylon Bee published a story headlined, “Giant Hurricane Forms Over Washington From White House Spinning Afghanistan Story.” It was only a slight exaggeration.
With the Afghanistan crisis, Biden and his team have combined incompetence with an inability, or a disinclination, to be straight with the American people about it. The situation calls to mind a story in Politico from almost exactly one year ago, August 14, 2020. The article sought to explain former President Barack Obama’s reluctance to wholeheartedly support his former vice president’s campaign. Obama, Politico reported, was sending out message after message for his fellow Democrats to be wary of Biden.
“Searing, anonymously sourced quotes kept appearing through the race,” Politico reported. “One Democrat who spoke to Obama recalled the former president warning, ‘Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f–k things up.'”
Now, with Afghanistan, Americans who did not already know are learning what Obama meant.