On its three-year anniversary, Joe Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal is back in the news again.
To the corporate media, it’s little more than an excuse for a new propaganda jihad against Donald Trump for visiting Arlington Cemetery. Republicans are also making headlines this week for subpoenaing Secretary of State Antony Blinken for his role in the disaster. Both moves are simple political posturing; they will be forgotten in a matter of days.
The sad lesson of Afghanistan is that only one thing moves the needle in American politics: the tragic death of American service members.
Biden had a relatively stable above-water approval rating for the nine months of his presidency. That all changed after Afghanistan. The trend lines sharply reversed, and Biden has hovered around 10-12 points underwater ever since.
There’s been no shortage of scandal for the President in the three years since 13 Americans died at Abbey Gate. Inflation soared, riots exploded, his family’s influence peddling came to light, he cracked down on free speech and his political opponents, and he treated a Chinese spy balloon with kid gloves. And still, none of that moved the needle.
By now, it should be clear that the botched Afghanistan disaster is the inevitable outcome of Democrats’ utopian policies and feckless leadership. Yet Americans still will not be moved until they actually see disaster strike. How many more Afghanistans must happen until Americans finally learn their lesson?
