Today's Morning Joe offered the spectacle of a stunning contrast between two Democrats—one, an angry Mika Brzezinski, the other totally cynical—on the issue of Biden's Afghanistan fiasco.
On the one hand, Brzezinski. As anti-Trump as ever, but passionately blaming Biden for "leaving to die" Afghans who had helped America. Brzezinski notably didn't blame what she last week lambasted as the DeSantis "death cult." Mika also said that as much as Trump can be blamed, ultimately, "Joe Biden made this decision."
Here's Mika:
I don’t disagree with Adrienne about Trump’s involvement with this, and that his dealings with the Taliban being downright disgusting, and treasonous, or whatever else word you want to use, anti-democratic, not conducive to a good outcome. However you want to describe it. But this is Joe Biden’s. He made this decision. And I just worry a little bit about the what the, you know, whataboutism, or putting it back on Trump. You can do it, he owns a lot of it. But Joe Biden made this decision.
On the other, there was Dem hack/MSNBC analyst Adrienne Elrod [veteran of Biden and Hillary campaigns], who falsely claimed that Biden couldn't have foreseen the fiasco. She recommended that Biden "reiterate" that he was "boxed in" by Trump and was "merely carrying out what his predecessor had negotiated."
Here's some of Elrod's spin:
The concerns are, first of all, I think a lot of people are saying, President Biden has been in office for six months. President Trump negotiated with the Taliban, as you just showed in the RNC website, was touting that. So the question becomes, you know, how do we solve this situation? And, we've got to remind folks that this is something that was negotiated by President Trump. He boxed us in many respects. You know, President Biden was merely carrying out what his predecessor had negotiated. And I think that is something that this administration will continue to reiterate.
When Elrod suggested how to "solve this," the situation she spoke of was not that of addressing the Afghanistan fiasco itself, but only of saving Biden's hide. It really doesn't get much more cynical than that.
As we noted yesterday, NBC's Richard Engel called BS on claims, such as the one Elrod made, that the rapid collapse couldn't have been foreseen.
As for Biden being "boxed in" by Trump, that's also BS. As the Wall Street Journal editorialized today [emphasis added], Biden:
"has spent seven months ostentatiously overturning one Trump policy after another on foreign and domestic policy. Yet he now claims Afghanistan policy is the one he could do nothing about."
And in any case, how desperate are Elrod, and the Dems at large, if the best defense they can come up with is to depict Biden as Trump's pathetic lackey, "merely carrying out what his predecessor had negotiated?"
Elrod unwittingly raised an important moral issue. She said that the US priority should be to evacuate American citizens, whereas she cast evacuating Afghans who helped the US, some of whom are now being left to die, as something of an afterthought, albeit a "wonderful" one. Is she right?
Dem hack/MSNBC analyst Adrienne Elrod's cynical political take on Biden's Afghanistan fiasco was sponsored in part by Discover and Noom.
Here's the transcript.
Morning Joe
8/16/21
6:28 am EDTMIKA BRZEZINSKI: Adrienne Elrod, let's get to you on the political impact.
. . .
ADRIENNE ELROD: I don’t think any sitting president would expect these images that we are seeing now to have taken place. This is certainly not something, the chaos at the airport, the Afghan government completely disbanding and not taking any responsibility for governing their citizens over the last 36 to 48 hours, that is not anything that I think this administration could have foreseen.
. . .
What matters the most is that we get our American citizens out. It would be wonderful if we could also prioritize those Afghan citizens who have been supporting us for the last 20 years
. . .
BRZEZINSKI: But I’ve been hearing from my contacts deep within the Democratic party, and I’m hearing a lot of concern. What are you hearing, and what are they saying? What is the concern?
. . .ELROD: The concerns are, first of all, I think a lot of people are saying, President Biden has been in office for six months. President Trump negotiated with the Taliban, as you just showed in the RNC website, was touting that.
So the question becomes, you know, how do we solve this situation? And, we've got to remind folks that this is something that was negotiated by President Trump. He boxed us in many respects. You know, President Biden was merely carrying out what his predecessor had negotiated. And I think that is something that this administration will continue to reiterate.
. . .
BRZEZINSKI: I don’t disagree with Adrienne about Trump’s involvement with this, and that his dealings with the Taliban being downright disgusting, and treasonous, or whatever else word you want to use, anti-democratic, not conducive to a good outcome. However you want to describe it.
But this is Joe Biden’s. He made this decision. And I just worry a little bit about the what the, you know, whataboutism, or putting it back on Trump. You can do it, he owns a lot of it. But Joe Biden made this decision.
