The Blame Game, of course, has begun. Media outlets could not wait. They were forming at the mouth, ready to sell headlines and bylines, eager to forget what came before. And then they pounced. (Too many to list here).
Fortunately, though, one host of a talk/news show was spot on with her take surrounding the media’s reaction to President Biden ending American involvement in the Afghanistan war and to his speech Monday afternoon during which he addressed his decisions concerning troop withdrawal:
Nicole Wallace. Republican. Host, Deadline: White House. MSNBC. Monday, 16 August 2021.
95% of the American people will agree with what the President said.
95 % of the Press covering the White House will disagree.
There’s also this from Dave Weigel. Journalist/Blogger. Sunday, 15 August 2021:
How quickly can the politics around Afghanistan change? Here’s a section on the RNC’s website in June [2020]; click it now and you get a 404 error.
The Republican National Committee has removed a page from the 2020 campaign that says “Biden has had a history of pushing for endless wars” while “Trump has continued to take the lead in peace talks as he signed a historic peace agreement with the Taliban in Afghanistan, which would end America’s longest war.”
And this from Brandon Friedman. Afghan and Iraq War Veteran and former Obama Admin official. Sunday, 15 August 2021:
Biden fumbled the exit. Trump put him in this situation. Obama doubled down when we should have left a decade ago. Bush neglected the narrow mission to focus on Iraq. Afghanistan has been a string of predictable failures. Blaming Biden for the outcome is patently absurd.
But here’s a few of the 36-point headlines the media and rightwing pundits have stayed away from selling: (of course this will change if and when these items become sellable)
Trump says he spoke to a Taliban leader, had ‘good talk’
Associated Press. March 3 2020.
President Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday that he spoke on the phone to a Taliban leader, making him the first U.S. president believed to have ever spoken directly with the militant group responsible for the deaths of thousands of U.S. troops in nearly 19 years of fighting in Afghanistan.
Trump said the United States has a shared interest with the Taliban, which harbored al-Qaida before the 9/11 attacks.
“We had a very good conversation with the leader of the Taliban today, and they’re looking to get this ended, and we’re looking to get it ended. I think we all have a very common interest,” Trump said. “We had, actually, a very good talk with the leader of the Taliban.”
The United States and the Taliban signed an agreement last Saturday calling for the withdrawal of American troops, allowing Trump to make progress on a key campaign pledge to extract the U.S. from what he calls “endless wars” and paving the way for all-Afghan talks to begin on Tuesday.
Trump’s Taliban peace deal is right move – After almost 20 years it’s time to exit Afghanistan
Fox. 29 February 2020.
The United States signed a peace deal with the Taliban in Qatar Saturday. If conditions in Afghanistan stay at their current level of decreased violence, we will begin returning most of our troops from the longest war in our history.
The deal itself has numerous conditions that the Taliban must meet including severing all ties with terrorist organizations and negotiating in good faith with the Afghan government toward a lasting agreement. The withdrawal of some U.S. troops, as well as prisoner swaps that will release up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners, are part of the initial confidence-building measures.
This was the right decision by President Trump from an array of not very good options. And that is what a good leader does, makes a tough but smart call when it would be easier to simply maintain the status quo.
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Included here is without doubt a must read, putting into proper perspective how the hypocrites in media ‘news’ play the Game.
Eric Boehlert’s piece at Pressrun lays it out for all to read. Monday. 16 August 2021.
