'The Definition of Gaslighting': Politico's Brutal Piece on Biden's Fiasco in Afghanistan
There is nothing Joe Biden can say that's remotely truthful about Afghanistan. How many remarks has he given, and how fast have they been debunked by…everyone? Every time the president opens his mouth about Afghanistan and how everything is going well, legions of reporters, especially those on the ground, are there to shoot down the narrative.
Security at the airport is in shambles. Americans cannot safely get there. The Taliban are beating Americans—and we're going to leave some behind. That was an admission given that Joe is obsessed with this August 31 deadline. It took a crisis in which Americans are trapped behind enemy lines, but at least the liberal media is somewhat doing their jobs. They are hammering this administration for the chaos. They are noting that what Biden is saying does not comport with reality.
Here we have Politico's piece on our withdrawal that zeroes in on the administration's gaslighting on the matter:
Tens of thousands of Afghans awaiting U.S. visas and thousands of American citizens are still stuck in Kabul, unable to find safe passage through frantic crowds, Taliban checkpoints and Afghan guards stationed outside the airport.
Gunfire erupted outside of the north gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport on Monday, killing a number of Afghan security forces. American officials have repeatedly had to close the gates for extended periods, leading guards to turn away even U.S. passport holders.
Multiple sources point to deteriorating conditions inside the airport, including lack of power and sanitation. And tension has emerged between American troops on the ground and State Department officials trying to extract U.S. citizens and Afghan allies.
Meanwhile, the West Wing is looking increasingly disconnected from reality as the Biden White House strives to project a sense of calm competence — even as the Taliban tighten their grip on Afghanistan.
“We are actually overperforming in terms of the evacuation numbers,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Monday of the massive evacuation effort underway at Kabul airport to extract thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Afghan allies from the city.
[…]
“I don’t think the president’s rhetoric matches the conditions on the ground,” said Jenna Ben-Yehuda, a 12-year veteran of the Bush and Obama State Department and president of the Truman Center, which is coordinating with other groups to try to evacuate Afghan allies.
“They keep saying this was inevitable, but there absolutely was a way to avoid this — if that’s not the definition of gaslighting I don’t what is,” said Chris Purdy, the project manager of the Veterans for American Ideals program at Human Rights First, which has been part of the coalition to help evacuate people from Afghanistan.
Biden is lying. His people are lying. And even the press, Biden's best friends, can't defend him over this shambolic exit.
Now, we learn that our CIA director was b**** slapped by the Taliban. That we caved to their August 31 deadline, and that troops will begin to leave the country soon. If there are Americans stranded, they can slip into Jen Psaki's DMs. You cannot make this up. It's a shameful surrender to terrorists. And again, Biden and his people knew the situation on the ground was shakier than cafeteria jello throughout the summer.