Let's see---Trump freed 5000 Taliban warriors from prison---one of whom is now in charge

[Atticus]

of Afghanistan---looked the other way while Putin paid some of them $100k for killing a US soldier, set a date certain when we would leave the country, did nothing while the Taliban ignored what they'd promised to do, and withdrew 80% of our forces before he left office.

Just how in hell is the heartache we are witnessing now Joe Biden's fault?

[Champp]

1. k and r

[Deuce]

2. Yes, but you won't hear that in any of the lead stories on cable networks...

[Walleye]

3. It's his fault because he won the election according to the GOP

Of course half of them won’t even admit he won the election. I like that Joe is ignoring the over the top criticism and concentrating on the job at hand

[Trueblue1968]

29. Just how in hell is the heartache we are witnessing now Joe Biden's fault? IT IS ALL TRUMP'S FAULT!!

[Walleye]

30. I know it's all Trump's fault. The GOP is practicing serious deflection

They hate Biden because he won the election

[KS Toronado]

4. Because according to reQublicOns....

everything in life that is negative was caused by Democrats.
reQublicOns believe they "own" all the good stuff, like an insurrection.
When in reality the exact opposite is true.

[StClone]

5. Much of media wants to appear like they are legitimate and fair

That they can "do stories" on Biden (even if marginally significant or thorough) so they can pursue those pesky Rs, maybe...

[Lonestarblue]

6. I wonder if Afghanistan would have fallen so quickly if their new leader and the 5,000

soldiers were still in prison. Their release and Trump signaling to them—and the legitimate government—through negotiating only with the Taliban that they were the country’s real leaders moat likely contributed to the government soldiers refusing to fight. Trump is the reason Afghanistan fell so quickly or possibly at all. Pompeo deserves a lot of the blame also. What were they thinking? The US is taking its forces away, and they set 5,000 seasoned terrorists and their leader loose to terrorize the country.

[Justice matters.]

32. And now, the RepubliQons want to do the same to incarcerated 1/6 terrorists

here.

The party of law and order want them out of prison. Wonder why?

[PatSeg]

7. And how the hell are these facts being ignored

by the press and republicans? Once again Trump put Putin before his own country and everyone has their blinders on.

[Evolve Dammit]

13. Very good question indeed. 45 continues to get a pass

[PatSeg]

15. So many people got used to Trump's

bizarre and blatantly corrupt behavior that most of what he did in plain sight was viewed as "normal". Of course, he also mastered the art of distraction. He never allowed the media or the public to really scrutinize any outrageous behavior by following up with something else equally outrageous. Hard to believe he got away with such a cheesy and obvious tactic for four years.

[Evolve Dammit]

18. He bragged he "loved chaos." It was successful in never allowing an issue to metastasize in the media

[PatSeg]

19. Yes and he used chaos successfully for years

I suppose he saw no reason to change, even if his tactics caused others so much pain and loss. As long as HE was "winning", that's all that mattered.

[Evolve Dammit]

20. Suits his caffeine-fueled ADHD, infantile, narcissistic, aggressive personality. Sux for rest of us.

[PatSeg]

23. Yeah and that too

I've known people somewhat like Trump, but they were never successful to any degree. I certainly could never imagine them ending up in the White House. Just shows what happens when such a person is supported and financed by his parents and how much damage he can do. Without the family money, Trump would have been a nobody, probably damaging a handful of people, but not the entire country and even in some respects, the world.

[DBoon]

25. Financed first by his parents, then by Russia and shadowy right wing billionaires

Living off dad's fortune only took him so far.

[PatSeg]

27. Yes, so true

He is one of those people with the dumb luck of a fool. There always seems to be some benefactor out there willing to finance him for their own underhanded objectives. Of course, it started with family money. Without it, he would have never gotten far enough to draw the attention of Vladimir Putin and those shadowy right wing billionaires. He would have been Cliff Clavin at the end of the bar. An obnoxious blowhard, but even less knowledgeable and certainly less likable than even Cliff.

[Evolve Dammit]

34. And how that appealed and resonated with the masses, is the stuff of psych research for decades.

[PatSeg]

37. I was thinking the same thing

though I think a lot of sci-fi writers predicted such a thing was possible. We often ask how could so many Germans buy into Hitler's insanity in the thirties and forties. Now with computers, smartphones, talk radio, and television, we are seeing that same thing happening on steroids. The propagandists can reach far more people in a much shorter period of time and it is even worldwide.

If Armageddon is real, I would think that this is what it would look like along with rising sea levels, out of control wild fires, a worldwide pandemic, and unprecedented numbers of hurricanes and tornadoes. We tend to see things in bits and pieces as they are happening, often missing the larger picture. That larger picture looks a lot like the first 20 minutes of a disaster film. That is the feeling I get some days when I scroll through the day's headlines.

[Evolve Dammit]

39. When you add it all up, it is very chilling. And you're right about the speed of info. I feel like

we're all in a Stephen King book. Only it's all real and we're along for the ride. Maybe we can just hold up our hand and the attendant will make it stop??

[PatSeg]

40. Oh yes, a Stephen King book

is also an apt analogy. I can see that you are observing it all a lot like I am. It is all so overwhelming and there isn't much that a single individual can do. Collectively, a lot of people may be able to slow it down, but not stop or reverse most of it.

Well, isn't this a cheerful start to a new day?

[Evolve Dammit]

41. Sorry, it does become a lather, rinse repeat with tales of woe. We call news the daily "mayhem."

If you never read King's "The Stand", now is the time (pandemic gripper).

[PatSeg]

42. Oh, I read it when it first came out

My son has read read it twice. That was a book that was hard to put down and certainly is timely today.

[Ohioboy]

8. Trump's deal left Biden without any bargaining power

Biden should have been able to say we'll let your guys out after our mission is done. Instead Trump strengthened the Taliban and weakened our military in the region. Then to top it all off set an unreasonable timeline. The Taliban played Trump like a fiddle.

[Escurumbele]

9. You cannot imagine how many times I have said exactly what you wrote to many of my friends

Most of them are not MAGAts, but there are a few, but even the ones who are not MAGAts have the wrong information, so I have become a parrot, almost, repeating the same lines you wrote.

We suffer not only from misinformation, that is the very loud one, but we also suffer as a country lack of information, people are so lazy, they don't care to research what comes to them through their phones.

[Ohioboy]

10. I know, it's so frustrating

Even those that are not in the MAGA cult don't know about Trump's deal with the Taliban.

[Evolve Dammit]

35. especially after it was scrubbed from his website. Gee, guess it was pretty damning? nt

[samnsara]

11. ...and again, like Nicolle Wallace predicted.. America would all be for the pull out and the media

..will hate it. I've been watching a lot of Smithsonian channel and old movies... The media is fighting its own war with Joe and hes doing a GREAT job!

[FakeNoose]

12. It's looking like Joe Biden's Number One enemy

... is the American media!

[CrispyQ]

17. It has been for a very long time, yet our side doesn't do anything to counter it.

Where's our The Lincoln Project? Our MeidasTouch? Where's our animated video of the Joe Conservative essay?

The video on the home page is a campaign video.

https://democrats.org

Good fucking grief.

[wiggs]

14. Dems leaders are good at governing...not as good at campaigning. We have the issues, the

demographics, the reasoning, history, science, and truth on our side, but seem to think that's enough even in the face of 24/7 lies, under-handed politics, polarization, hate, and fear-mongering.

[CrispyQ]

16. If we had a marketing department, maybe they could put all that together in a clever ad,

& get it on the air & out on social media. You'd think we'd have something like that. You know, like The Lincoln Project.

[Initech]

22. We could have the freaking greatest marketing department ever.

It won't hold a candle to 2500 radio stations, 700 local TV stations, 3 24/7 cable channels, and scores of radicalized internet propaganda all parroting the same far right talking points.

[Initech]

21. Because Fox News is calling the shots, that's why.

Liberal media, my ass.

[former9thward]

24. It is not Biden's fault but it was always going to be chaotic no matter who did it.

The main withdrawal took place under Obama not Trump. During Obama's time there were 100,000 troops. When Trump took over there were only about 8,000.

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2016/07/06/a-timeline-of-u-s-troop-levels-in-afghanistan-since-2001/

Also to be accurate in April the Biden White House threw cold water on the Russian bribing the Taliban with bounties story.

Remember those Russian bounties for dead U.S. troops?

Biden admin says the CIA intel is not conclusive

The Biden administration made clear Thursday that the CIA has only "low to moderate confidence" in its intel on alleged Russian bounties for U.S. troops.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/remember-those-russian-bounties-dead-u-s-troops-biden-admin-n1264215

We had bad intelligence. We also had bad intelligence about the Kabul evacuation.

[LanternWaste]

28. We also had bad intelligence regarding the bocage in Normandy

as well as the troop buildup of the 6th Panzer Army and 1st SS Panzer corps later that same year.

No one of note on DU has argued otherwise. No one.

[totodeinhere]

26. Yes, all of that is true. But...

you know how it is. The final chapter of this mess is happening on Joe Biden's watch. That's just the way it is. He will inevitably face criticism even though this is Trump's fault.

[dlk]

31. Putin's puppet...

We shouldn’t be surprised.

[live love laugh]

33. This is a page right out of the narcissists playbook.

I had a narcissist boss once who picked the worst of the worst.

They knew they weren’t worthy of selection so did she — and they repaid her with unfaltering allegiance.

[Snackshack]

36. None of this is President Biden's

Fault. That’s just how the GOP is nothing is ever their fault. I mean two tough, experienced men so we were told. One an ex Secretary of Defense the other an ex fighter pilot / Governor completely failed on the job even after a briefing a month earlier saying this guy right here is determined to attack America and sure enough September 11th we got hit. After the dust settled and the shock wore off no one asked how Bush/Cheney failed so disastrously to let us be attacked on our own soil. We were told “No one could have anticipated planes being hijacked and flown into buildings”… even though the Pentagon had thought about exactly that. Bush’s approval skyrocketed and we let them drag us into not 1 but 2 wars and stain our reputation by torturing people. 20yrs now the GOP has brought us 1 disaster after another and they keep somehow being able to skate on their responsibility for it.

I still cannot believe how DT has been able to kill 600,000+ Americans and not be arrested. I wonder how long it will be till DT contacts the new president of Afghanistan telling him that if it was not for DT he would still be sitting in a jail so he needs to pay up…

[emmaverybo]

38. Typical fail for the great negotiator. No art or common sense in the deal. K+R. NT