#142 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Monday September 13)
Good morning,
As the sun sets on the American experience in Afghanistan, it is hard to imagine how we could have botched the exit any worse. While leaving Afghanistan would have been a messy proposition no matter how it occurred, the idea that the departure would be ignominiously executed at a civilian airport, without a sufficient security perimeter, failing to protect Americans and those who supported our efforts. It is shameful.
TEAM RED IS ECSTATIC
That said, the Trumpists are uncontrollably giddy over the disastrous exit and the killings near the Kabul International Airport. Their prayers have been answered—they can now no longer be required to defend Mr. Trump’s incompetence; they can focus on the incompetence of the current administration.
All of the sudden, it’s as if Mr. Trump’s mishandling of Afghanistan never happened. But let’s not forget that Mr. Trump, the master of the “art of the deal” entered into a boneheaded deal that began the inexorable failure of the Afghanistan experiment. This article sums it up nicely: “What Trump’s Disgraceful Deal With the Taliban Has Wrought”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/28/opinion/trump-taliban-deal-diplomacy.html?referringSource=articleShare
INCOMPETENCE, SENILITY AND LACK OF FITNESS
If you follow these things in social media or in articles written by the pundits of the Trumpist-right, you have heard the narrative that Mr. Biden is “over the hill” and unfit for the job. While it is true that Mr. Biden shows signs of his age, I don’t share the conclusion that Afghanistan is the result of his decline, nor that a cabal of leftists are pulling the strings. While it hardly is comforting, let’s remember that Mr. Biden has been a master of the malaprop for much of his political career.
But the other day, Mr. Trump reminded us that, whatever one can say about Mr. Biden, Mr. Trump has no clue about the job, the players on the national stage, history, or the context. If there is any doubt that Mr. Trump is unhinged, unfocused and unfit, I leave you with an exchange with Hugh Hewitt, reminding us of just how scary, unsophisticated, ill-informed and narcissistic Mr. Trump was in his many incomprehensible pronouncements and the clear and present danger he continues to pose (you can skim it; but showing it in its run-on incoherence is the point):
Hewitt: What did you communicate to…Mullah Baradar…when you spoke to him?
Trump: So I set up a conversation with him, and people said oh, you shouldn't be talking. Well, I set up a conversation with Kim Jong Un of North Korea. We didn't have a nuclear war. Had I not, then Obama would have been right. We would have had a nuclear war. President Obama said to me we're going to have a nuclear war with North Korea. I said have you ever spoken to him. He said no. And I said don't you think that might be a good idea. But anyway, I know he wanted to speak to him, but he never got to speak to him, and I think the other side didn't want to talk to Obama. So what happened is I spoke to the head of the, the known head, because it's...
Hewitt: Yeah, Baradar, right? Baradar.
Trump: Yeah, but I spoke to, and sort of the known head, but nobody was sure, but now I'm sure, and I was sure then when I was speaking to him. And I knew as soon as I spoke to him. And even the introduction, I say hello, and he screamed something very tough. And I then started with him. I said, listen, before we start the longtime conversation and conversations that we're going to have, I have to say one thing, and I'll never have to say it again to you. And here's what I say. If you do anything bad to the United States of America, if you do anything bad to any of our civilians, to any American citizen, or if you do anything out of the normal, you know, they've been fighting for a thousand years, but out of the normal, because you've had your wars, and if you do anything out of the normal, but anything bad to America or any American citizens, I will hit you harder than anybody has ever been hit in world history. You will be hit harder than any country and any person has ever been hit in world history. And we will start with the exact location and the exact town, and it's right here. And I believe I repeated the name of his town. That will be the first place that we start. And I won't be able to speak to you anymore after that, and isn't that a very sad thing? But that is the story. And then he asked me one question, and I'd rather not repeat that question, because it's a very scary question. But he asked me one question, and I gave him the answer yes. And then after it was all done, I said OK, now I've said what I'm going to say. Let's have a conversation. And I said we're going to be leaving after 21 years. And when we leave, you're going to leave us alone, and we're going to leave with great dignity and great honor. And we are going to take care of this situation. We're going to take our time. We had a date of May 1, but they missed a couple of conditions. We had some very strong conditions, Hugh. But they missed a couple of conditions. I wanted to be out by May 1. I had spoken to him quite a bit before May 1, but we had a condition of May 1. But they missed conditions, and so therefore, I bombed and we hit them very hard. And then we said we will agree to those conditions. I said no, you've already agreed to them. Don't play games. We had them so good. They weren't in Kabul. You take a look at when they started taking over Afghanistan. It's when I left. When I left, that's when it started, they started going wild, because they were dealing with another president. And I never realized, and of course I realized the importance and power of the presidency, but I never realized how important the office of the president is until this happened, because when I watched what happened over the last week and a half with some horrible, stupid decisions that were made, number one being allowing our military to leave before the civilians and before we get all of our equipment back, $83 billion dollars. And not, nobody can even comprehend that much equipment. Thousands of vehicles, thousands, you saw the list of vehicles…”
Have a great week,
Glenn
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