Naked emperor Biden tells us all to admire his sparkling new suit of clothes
In Biden’s speech today on the Afghan withdrawal, you might say he’s delusional. Then again, perhaps he knows he’s lying. Hard to tell, really.
The message seems to be one Biden’s aides and advisors have approved, though, or I don’t think he’d be delivering these remarks. It’s the message they will all employ going forward: we’re great, we handled this well, we planned for every contingency, and anything that went wrong is the fault of the cowardly Afghan army and Biden’s terrible predecessor Donald Trump.
Please read the Twitter responses to the speech, listed at Legal Insurrection. What Biden is asserting is astounding in its mendacious boasting and blaming. Mary Chastain, author of the piece, calls it “gaslighting” – which it is, but that’s really too mild a word for it, although I don’t have a better one at the moment.
I have never seen anything like it before in this country, although analogies to other countries and times come to mind – for example, it’s Baghdad Bob level garbage, as is obvious to anyone who has followed it at all. And I have no doubt that most of the Democrats in Congress will nod along and tell the public to forget about it all now, everything is just fine and Uncle Joe and the other adults are in charge.
Pernicious stuff. How much of the MSM will fall in line, and how much will say enough is enough? I don’t yet know, but my guess is that the first category will be far larger than the second.
Here are just a few of the tweets in reaction to his speech. There is a tone of stunned disbelief at the boldness and shamelessness of the lying:
From Guy Benson:
Defiant victory lap.
POTUS asserts “we were ready” for what happened thanks to his administration’s incredible contingency planning.
Astonishing.
From Curtis Houck:
After trumpeting the mission that killed 13 U.S. soldiers as having unfolded as “designed,” Biden blames the Americans left behind in Afghanistan for putting themselves in this position, insisting it’s likely many of them like it there.
And note these remarks by NBC’s (yes, the MSM) Richard Engel, who talks about how Biden pooh-poohs the continuing and even increased threat:
NBC's Richard Engel absolutely body-slams President Biden over his Afghanistan speech, saying that ISIS is "already…accomodating with the Taliban," al-Qaeda fighters are "being welcomed…as heroes," and there are plenty of "threats" Americans face b/c of what's transpired. pic.twitter.com/LxDCNtVroc
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 31, 2021
Note also the responses at Twitter to Engel’s words. Whether the tweets are from bots, Democrat operatives, or the actual Democrat rank-and-file, the tweets are examples of why Biden and company feel they can get away with this sort of messaging.
The very first one was this:
War correspondent freaking out now that there’s no American war to cover.
There are others in that vein.
Here’s a slightly different approach:
That’s enough Richard Engel. The war is over! There’s plenty to do on the Climate Crisis all over the world.
Just a few short years ago this sort of behavior – leaving people behind, withdrawing with a series of dreadful decisions that maximized risk both during the withdrawal and in the future, and blatantly lying about it for all to see – would have been unconscionable in a president. That may or may not still be the case. I suppose we’ll find out. But I predict no impeachment (the Democrats would have to be in favor of it, and they are not) and no 25th Amendment unless and until Joe is literally not functioning and/or the left has figured out how to position the chosen successor in there. I don’t think the chosen successor is Kamala Harris; she’s certainly not their ideal one.
Lying in such an obvious way has two main functions. The first is that it informs other Democrats what the party line will be, and loyal ones will echo it and even believe it – just as O’Brien got Winston Smith to believe that two plus two equals five if the party dictates that belief. The second is to laugh at and mock those on the right who know otherwise but are presently impotent to stop them. And Biden, his advisors, and the present Democratic leaders aim to make it their business to make the opposition permanently unable to stop them.
Not My President:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x7eJwAD6hk
Gaslighting? More like bulls**tting. And Sh**ting Bull Joe thinks we will all forget and forgive. Nope. Don’t pee on my leg and try to tell me it’s raining. Not.buying.it.
He sounds like a real quote from the movie, Airplane!
Jack Kirkpatrick:
Shanna, they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into. I say, let ’em crash.
Biden:
They were in Afghanistan, they didn’t get to the airport on their own in time. They must like it there. I say, let the Taliban have them.
I cannot watch Biden as the lying and delusions are sickening.
These people consider 1984 a model.
DNCIA talking point du jour: If you are appalled by Biden’s dishonest, self-serving speech, you’re a warmonger and a sore loser who’s just pissed that the war is “over.”
Good for Richard Engel for explaining the real world issues. The responses are not bots, unfortunately. I listened to an interview of Larry Elder with the Sacramento Bee. The questions the reporters asked were astonishingly dumb and had nothing to do with his reasons to run for Governor of California. The indoctrination was thick. The reporters may know what they are doing, but the people that read their articles are influenced by their words.
The foreign press is not so kind to Biden. Our allies were never notified about the withdrawal and had to scramble to pick up their people. They also have gone after Biden’s incompetence the minute he stepped into his current position.
I’m not sure why there’s an apostrophe in “pooh-pooh’s.” I’m pretty sure it’s incorrect.
The COVID-19 lies were just the warmup. Now we’re getting to the main event but it’s early in the first inning so far.
Sundowner is only doing what the Leftists want, getting out of Afghanistan with a base to work from in the western Asia near Iran, China. Can’t see how any foreigner would want to work for the US Government after this back stabbing. And 100,000 more immigrants all in a month to be settled in red states. The last month no Leftist was opposed to this debacle.
Obama: Afghanistan good war, Iraq bad war
Biden: Afghanistan bad political issue, AGW & Covid good political issues
James Freeman, in today’s Wall Street Journal, quoting Afghan President Ghani in a Reuters transcript of a July call between Biden and Ghani:
Biden knew this was going wrong, and did nothing.
Link, probably behind a paywall:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/president-perception-11630449446?mod=djemBestOfTheWeb
Danny Kaye – The King’s New Clothes – High Quality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G55Oq3oBls0
You were right in the first paragraph. This isn’t gaslighting, because it is not just a dimmed bulb that is claimed to be bright as ever. This is a flat out lie and demonstrably so. We have Americans and Allies that said they were given no warning. They didn’t chose this, Biden did. If Trump is to blame, then Biden had 6 months to warn Americans and Allies and failed to do so. If Trump is to blame, Biden had 6 months to move out excess military equipment rather than leave it behind, and he failed to do so. This is simple to note before we get into Trump’s negotiated date being earlier (I read somewhere it was May and I’ll just concede it, but others can correct), but if Biden managed to delay that date, then he also chose the new date to accept. If he had the power in negotiation to move that date later, then he lost that power. That’s on Biden.
Airlifting thousands of people out of Afghanistan is an accomplishment of the military, but it is a failure to only count heads and not track who they are such that you cannot account for how many are Americans, green card holders, allied foreign nationals, and valid refugees. That’s a massive failure on someone’s part and they are calling it a success. When they make that claim, demand the accounting. Anything less is less than what happens at many US international airports that have to account for exactly who people are and where they went. And those US airports and airlines have to do this because of the same event that lead us into Afghanistan.
One thing I learned from being in the Army — it’s never ignore a Pooh-Pooh.
–“Blackadder: Don’t Pooh-pooh a Pooh-poohing”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeF1JO7Ki8E
It’s breathtaking the way Biden and the media have flipped this around.
_____________________________________
Biden Deserves Credit, Not Blame, for Afghanistan:
Americans should feel proud of what the U.S. government and military have accomplished in these past two weeks.
The very last chapter of America’s benighted stay in Afghanistan should be seen as one of accomplishment on the part of the military and its civilian leadership. Once again the courage and unique capabilities of the U.S. armed services have been made clear. And, in a stark change from recent years, an American leader has done the hard thing, the right thing: set aside politics and put both America’s interests and values first.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/biden-deserves-credit-not-blame-for-afghanistan/619925/
_____________________________________
I miss the old “Atlantic.”
Artfldgr @ 7:59,
And Tubby the Tuba!
The 25th Amendment requires a vote of mental incompetence by a majority of Biden’s toad-like Cabinet appointees such as CRT SecDef black Austin; Blinken, Buttigieg, the two great B-unables.
Ain’t gonna happen.
We are governed by worms, and we are passively accepting that.
Sic transit gloria.
Then he talked about “my son, Beau.”
Huxley;
I saw the Atlantic article last night. Thank you for reading it. I started it and could not stomach it. There was a time when I liked the Atlantic magazine, before they went woke.
It is greater than the Berlin airlift!
I looked up the Berlin airlift. The two airlift’s are not really comparable, of course. The Berlin one was a cargo operation, and this one is a people moving operation. But at its peak the Berlin airlift had 1,500 flights per day and moved 5,000 tons of cargo per day. I read many years ago, that the Berlin airlift was so effective that the price of coal (home heating) and some basic food stuffs was lower during the airlift than those prices were before the German defeat.
My very crude calculation puts the Biden airlift at 500 or 600 tons of people and a little luggage, per day. Maybe 13% of Berlin in tonnage. And that’s with modern cargo planes.
JHCorcoran:
Part of the Atlantic problem is that it is 70% owned by Laurene Jobs, Steve Jobs’ widow, who is, needless to say, big on social justice and making megabuck donations to Democratic candidates.
But I remember the Atlantic started to slide, along with Harper’s and the New Yorker, during the Iraq War.
Neo-
I propose instead of gaslighting we term it either
Fuel Air Bombing or MOAGL pronounced as mogul. Mother of All Gas Lighting.
At this level and intensity it surely needs a more apt descriptor.
If you think about it, this is a brilliant move — assuming one has no integrity and can depend on the media to aid and abet.
Biden lacks the ability to play the tough commander facing up to “The buck stops here. We made mistakes and we’re on it.” That’s way too complicated. He would have to answer questions coherently and work more than 2-3 hours per day. Not happening.
Besides most Democrat problem-solving boils down to messaging anyway. Why work for success — which has the possibility of failure — when you can “frame” the status quo as success?
Reading comments at leftist website is a bit enlightening if nauseating.
They boil down to …
“Trump left Biden a mess to clean up … so Orange Man Bad”.
The USA remaining a Constitutional Republic really is questionable.
Truly frightening. I’m becoming convinced of the worst-case scenario, too – the last presidential election wasn’t won by Biden; it was stolen outright and the next might very well be. The American voter just can’t be that stupid. Can he?
No one who thinks this is “over” should be taken seriously.
Biden had no problem reversing anything and everything that Trump did; two examples are reversing Trump’s OK on the Keystone Pipeline and reversing Trump’s border policy.
But somehow, we are supposed to believe he could not reverse or modify or stop or delay, or whatever, Trump’s supposed withdrawal plan.
Sure.
I expect Bidet to lie.
He is, after all a senile pile of dog excrement, whose only success one can point to is filling the bank accounts of his family and himself.
Yep, 45 years of “public service” and that is his only accomplishment.
What is really astonishing is watching the line up of spokes- people Bidet has trot out to brief the “press;” they have no problem lying through their teeth defending Bidet’s policies and just stating outright lies.
Heard Jen Psucki say something about UN resolutions in regards to the Taliban. Yep, I bet the Taliban are shaking in their boots just thinking about this.
IMHO, there is no way in hell that Bidet devised this exit strategy all by himself. He must have had his advisors – including top military brass – devise this disaster. Imagine having that complete idiot Blinken providing advice; this guy lives in another solar system.
Of course, for a few weeks, maybe, the ” press” will feign disgust , etc .
But in the very near future – say 4 weeks – this entire disaster will be scrubbed from the news and they will once again go back to bending over for Bidet and the demonkrats.
Joe:
As time goes on I also have become more convinced, not less convinced, that the election was likely stolen. One thing I am totally convinced of: they would steal it if they possibly could, and then lie about it, and not suffer a single pang of conscience about it.
Mythx:
Actually, there’s an older phrase that works fairly well: the Big Lie.
huxley:
I believe the slide started with the death of editor/editor-at-large Michael Kelly in Iraq.
doug whiddon: “No one who thinks this is “over” should be taken seriously.”
Yep. A battle in a continuing war. The jihadis have beaten the Great Satan – again. Remember Black Hawk down? Another bug out that encouraged them. They will do their plotting and planning at leisure. They have undoubtedly infiltrated some of their ranks into the West. Standby for new ways to kill infidels.
It’s fourth generation warfare and requires new and different strategy and tactics to combat it. Conventional war is not the answer. Will Joe and Generals Milley and Austin grasp that or will they continue to pursue the real threat – white supremacy? Unfortunately, w e know the answer.
Dave:
Thanks. Will fix.
So now someone has leaked Biden’s call with the Afghan president from July to Reuters.
Interesting.
What’s the play there?
One truly hilarious and gratifying part is to watch the Deep State do to Biden what it did to Trump. How do you think Reuters got that transcript of the Biden/Ghani call?
It’s going to be so satisfying when they finally decide to push the eject button on Biden and a bunch of people who think they’re “in the know” will suddenly realize they’re nothing but chumps.
Mike
No doubt about it: Back to the USSR….
https://nypost.com/2021/08/31/marine-undergoes-mental-health-check-amid-afghan-criticism/
“The Big—Bigger, Biggest?—Lie” (there are so very many it’s hard to keep up…but that’s merely another Obama MO):
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2021/08/31/the-corruption-of-science-the-hydroxychloroquine-lancet-study-scandal-who-was-behind-it-anthony-faucis-intent-to-block-hcq-on-behalf-of-big-pharma/
https://redstate.com/bradslager/2021/08/31/with-a-new-threat-the-press-rails-against-the-big-lie-as-journalists-continue-lying-about-promised-trump-backed-violence-n435842
To be sure, in the Democratic Party’s war against the Republic, “Weapons of Mass Distraction” are ALWAYS in huge demand, always tremendously useful.
File under: Learning from history AND conscientiously repeating it….
Boss… you know this is a grand F-you to the world… especially all of us who even tangentially believe in American exceptionalism or that the US plays a unique role in world history.
They stole the election and are using every opportunity to rub our faces in it. O’s “fundamental transformation” of the US continues apace.
@ Neo > “How much of the MSM will fall in line, and how much will say enough is enough? I don’t yet know, but my guess is that the first category will be far larger than the second.”
They are already at work rewriting the First Draft of History by eliminating all contrary viewpoints.
https://pjmedia.com/columns/stephen-kruiser/2021/09/01/msm-re-writing-of-bidens-afghanistan-tragedy-already-in-high-gear-n1474445?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=onsite&utm_campaign=582
The gaslighting will continue until the Biden as Hero narrative wins out with enough people to satisfy whoever is running this show. I truly have no idea, and speculations are wildly divergent, even by people “in the know,” so there’s no point in adding those of a Random Deplorables such as myself.
However, I do know the Left has managed to convince millions of people that:
The Republicans were the party of slavery in the Civil War, instead of the Democrats.
The New Deal saved the American economy, instead of prolonging the Depression.
The Nazis were right-wingers just like American Conservatives, rather than socialists — just like it says in their name.
Joe McCarthy was wrong about there being Communists in the government, instead of just being a grand-standing loudmouth who was fundamentally correct.
Lee Harvey Oswald was a tool of the Right, instead of a committed Marxist.
Walter Cronkite was right about the Tet offensive, rather than having the winners and losers 180 degrees reversed.
Dan Rather was telling The Truth about the Bush memos, instead of pushing forgeries during an election.
John Kerry was a war hero and “swiftboating” is a pejorative, instead of describing veterans who were finally fed up enough to tell what really happened in Vietnam.
Michael Ferguson was killed saying “hands up don’t shoot,” rather than while attacking the policeman trying to arrest him.
Donald Trump is a pawn of the Russians, instead of a victim of the US Intelligence Agencies.
Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
Not a bad track record, and more could be added, so there is no reason for them to think they can’t pull it off again.
@ huxley > “Why work for success — which has the possibility of failure — when you can “frame” the status quo as success?”
Or deem a bill passed instead of going to the trouble of actually voting for it?
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/87081-hoyer-defends-deeming-the-senate-healthcare-bill-passed-without-vote
From the LI post that Neo linked, a few comments to share.
Pasadena Phil – I heard a quipster mocking Biden’s self-congratulation by likening it to the sinking of the Titanic where Cunard issues a statement raving about the greatest lifeboat rescue ever.
tiger66 – “Modern journalism is all about deciding which facts the public shouldn’t know because they might reflect badly on Democrats.” (Jim Treacher, 18-AUG-2015)
Recovering Lutheran – Betting time, deal LI readers! Which Franz von Papen Republican will be the first to say that we should not criticize Biden* for the Afghanistan debacle, but instead “come together to heal the nation” (or other such self-serving twaddle). My money is on Liz Cheney, but what say ye?
(Lots of votes for Romney & McConnell; any other candidates?)
Friendly Grizzly – Something got started in Germany around the time even the German people were getting fed up.
That thing was a new energy measurement, and it was called the Goer, in honor of Hermann Goering.
One Goer represented the energy expended when Germans simultaneously reached for the “off” switch on their radios when Goebbels came on for another speech.
Move up to the 21st century, and maybe one Beau is a measurement of the energy of America reaching for the remote when Josef Stolen comes on the air.
Andrew Stiles gives a good account of the ways in which Biden contradicted himself about almost everything, within the same speech.
https://freebeacon.com/politics/biden-afghanistan-fail/
Reminds me of the old children’s paradox poem:
Another gaslighter stokes the flames.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/08/when-the-new-york-times-is-back-in-your-corner.php#comment-5517416976
Will that really be what they come away with, given the one-sided reports in the Times & rest of the MSM?
Not according to past precedent.
The Gibbons-Neff post is not behind a paywall, so you can see for yourself.
https://www.forbesindia.com/article/global-news/an-unceremonious-end-and-a-shrouded-beginning/70127/1
I didn’t know Forbes was a NYT subsidiary, but the post is ©2019 New York Times News Service
“I miss the old “Atlantic.””
Former subscriber here. I walked away during “W” days. As I recall for 3 successive issues they printed Letters to the Editor in which purported doctors gave professional opinions on Bush’s mental and physical health (poor) based on photos they saw in newspapers.
As I recall for 3 successive issues they printed Letters to the Editor in which purported doctors gave professional opinions on Bush’s mental and physical health (poor) based on photos they saw in newspapers.
At least you got a list of doctors to never consult about anything.
Biden asked to comment about the dead after the Battle of Gettysburg, refers to his son Beau.
Biden asked to comment about the work of Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, and Thomas Hart Benton, refers to his son Hunter.
A handmade tale and straw clown apology. We should learn shortly if his choice will follow Obama 1.0 and precipitate another transnational (global) war and [catastrophic] [anthropogenic] climate change that forces [catastrophic] [anthropogenic] immigration reform (e.g. refugee crisis) and worse.
A conversation with two classmates, class of 1970 back in the heady days after the 2020 election has these two geezers high as fuck on smug self righteousness saying how they would have been Marines, demanding a draft.
One, a retired state assistant attorney general was the biggest pussy ever. Marines? He’d have gotten drummed out of the Camp Fire Girls! Pointed out that while he demanded a draft now, he never signed up.
Stunning response “So sad, too bad”.
My advice; never go to war under the thrilling cry of “So sad, too bad”.
Biden is absolutely going to win the Nobel Peace Prize for all of this, namely the “highly intelligent” and “bold” decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, the “hugely successful” humanitarian airlift, and the treatment of the “noble” Taliban as diplomatic equals.
The fact that they are only claiming a few hundred people were left behind leads me to believe that it was in the thousands. But how to prove this? The media isn’t going to investigate. The families of those left behind to die won’t have their stories heard and with be silenced online. Even if the Taliban staged a mass execution of these thousands of Americans on 9/11, the media wouldn’t cover it and if they did mention it in passing, they would claim that the executed weren’t Americans left behind, that the Taliban was lying.
While this is a U.S. government failure of a level beyond anything I can recall, unfortunately I see it as the continuation of a trend.
I don’t remember if it was one particular episode, or several, but during Obama’s Presidency I noticed we had descended into banana republic behavior. Open lies about facts. Media outlets that sometimes exceeded Pravda in their fawning coverage of our leader and his entourage.
The plebes don’t elect your candidate? Impeach their guy. Twice. Lie about him. Leak false documents and reports to a compliant press. Judicially reverse his orders.
Biden’s “campaign.” It was a complete joke but our storied institutions covered it as if it were prestigious.
I keep thinking of Richard Libertini’s hilarious portrayal of General Garcia in the great movie, “The Inlaws.” We are living in a farce.
(In conjunction with my last comment…)
We are no longer a nation of laws applied equally to all citizens. We are not even attempting to pretend we are. The Democrat Party seems very willing to exploit that and they are exploiting it to bring about drastic change, quickly. Change that will continue to cause great harm to many.
sunman–
According to ABC7, one of those left behind is a three-year-old boy: “This three-year-old boy was born near Sacramento; his passport shows he is a US citizen, and he’s going through a harrowing ordeal right now, unable to escape Afghanistan. We’re hiding his identity and that of his father, a social worker, and other family members who are all US permanent residents, for fear of them being captured by the Taliban.”
https://abc7news.com/society/exclusive-3-year-old-california-boy-stranded-in-afghanistan/10990233/
13 US soldiers killed in terror attack.
Biden reminds public that his son Beau also died (of natural causes).
20,195 American dead at the Battle of Okinawa. This, of course, is the existential equivalent of the death of Beau Biden.
President Biden has said that Pete Buttigieg reminds him of Beau – and further has stated that “this is the highest compliment I can give a man.”
President Biden has also said that his son Hunter (the esteemed artist) is “The smartest guy I know”.