• ignirtoq
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    1133 months ago

    He and his allies have made the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan a central focus of their criticisms of the Biden administration’s handling of national security and foreign policy.

    What I consistently don’t see brought up is the fact that the “chaotic withdrawal” was directly set up by Trump. He signed the agreement with Afghanistan that put a fixed date on the withdrawal squarely in the next President’s term. This gave enemies a clear timetable of US actions beforehand, which gave them a significant advantage. So Biden was left with the choice of either fulfilling the US promise, despite it being in every way a bad construct, and executing an extremely difficult withdrawal, or harming the US image on the global stage by reneging on an already agreed upon deal.

    I would go so far as to say this, like the expiration of the middle class portion of the Trump tax cuts, was specifically designed to make the next administration, which was always very likely to be Democrat, look bad regardless of the cost or collateral damage.

    • @[email protected]
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      453 months ago

      You don’t see it brought up because all media is either journalistically bankrupt or far-right propaganda.

      • @[email protected]
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        123 months ago

        Wild how the news bias is explained by its owners, 90% of whom are right wing billionaires or their companies. People wondering why CNN is “suddenly” airing Trump propaganda are in the dark

    • @[email protected]
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      3 months ago

      I don’t think it would have hurt US image more to re-invade. The Taliban aren’t much loved.

      What irks me is everyone buying into the “botched withdrawal” yeah it was chaotic. It inevitably would be chaotic, but it was well executed given the circumstances.

      Most of the suggestions on how it could have been better amounted to staying indefinitely, or a re-invasion, or even attacking the Afghan government.

  • @[email protected]
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    813 months ago

    He not only publicly attacked a Gold Star family, he spent years shitting on McCain for being as soldier “who got captured”.

    I cannot believe this stupidity is getting any traction.

    It’s like Hitler suddenly being unpopular because they found out he listened to jazz.

    • @[email protected]
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      113 months ago

      He not only publicly attacked a Gold Star family, he spent years shitting on McCain for being as soldier “who got captured”.

      And yet he still got elected to the White House. Let’s get real. This Arlington debacle won’t really do much damage to him.

    • @[email protected]
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      103 months ago

      He not only publicly attacked a Gold Star family, he spent years shitting on McCain for being as soldier “who got captured”.

      He was on the offensive when he did those things. Now he’s on the defensive. When you appear strong, anything is permissible, but when you appear weak suddenly many of the things people turned a blind eye to before become problems.

      • @[email protected]
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        43 months ago

        Anybody who falls for this is absolute trash, the truth doesn’t change because you’re strong or weak, the only people who think that are stupid cowards too spineless to stand for anything.

        • @[email protected]
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          63 months ago

          That probably describes a good chunk of Trump supporters. They are very enamored by the idea of strength and the terms they use reflect that influence it has on their world. The idea that America is presently diminished and will become great = a strong and respected nation leading other nations. The desire for hypermasculine men and submissive women. If their leader looks weak, they’re sensitive to that. They’ll deny it as long as they can, of course. But there could very well be a point where the collective feeling turns away from Trump.

      • themeatbridge
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        193 months ago

        No, it’s just weird that this is the final straw for anyone. Like it’s great if even one person wakes up because of this incident and recognizes that they were completely wrong about the guy, and we should continue to criticize every failure and prosecute every crime. But he was a piece of shit before the incident. We knew he was a piece of shit, and you either needed to also be a piece of shit or have your head entirely up your own ass to not see it before.

        • @[email protected]
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          3 months ago

          I would agree with everything you wrote here but this quote is confusing:

          I cannot believe this stupidity is getting any traction.

          • themeatbridge
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            53 months ago

            That part wasn’t me, but I think it means that it is weird that this story is the one that is getting under the skin. Trump has done many more disrespectful and criminal things, so it seems odd that suddenly people care.

            • @[email protected]
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              33 months ago

              I still haven’t seen evidence that Republicans do care. This is written by the New York times. All the same people who (rightly) care about trump misdeeds care about this too. I don’t understand the original comment I responded to. It’s really easy to read it as “no one should care about this” though

              • themeatbridge
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                13 months ago

                That’s a reasonable question. Election day is coming, so we’re going to find out soon enough.

    • @[email protected]
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      153 months ago

      The story stands out, and will stick because it attracts attention from people who respect the sacrifices made by fallen soldiers and who don’t necessarily follow politics. That is a whole different subgroup of people.

    • @[email protected]
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      293 months ago

      Having his attire always appearing the same suit makes it easier for the messy days, when he’s shat up his back or requires multiple changes.

    • @[email protected]
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      63 months ago

      Oh, I thought “the weave” was how they weave his hairs together to hold them in place to cover the bald spots.

  • @[email protected]
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    53 months ago

    The “liberal media” sure is trying to limit this fallout, too. Not that much coverage. Should be above-the-fold type of stuff in very clear headlines, nearly everywhere.