CNN’s Don Lemon did his best Chris Crocker impression this week, demanding viewers “stop beating up” on President Joe Biden for his disastrous mismanagement of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Speaking truth to power apparently only matters when the man in the Oval Office is a Republican.
“I think you have to give [the Biden White House] some credit for what, No. 1, getting out, and No. 2, getting as many people out as possible,” the CNN anchor said.
He added, “And we do have to remember there are people who went there, and we’re told they needed to leave, and they didn’t leave.”
On Monday, as the U.S. military abandoned Afghanistan, the Pentagon revealed as many as 200 U.S. nationals are still trapped in the Taliban-controlled country.
As it turns out, Lemon’s position on stranding Americans in Afghanistan is the same as the White House’s, which can be summed up as, “you snooze, you lose.”
“But, you know, I think people should stop beating up on the administration so much, because, no matter how it ended, everyone wasn’t going to be happy with the way it ended,” Lemon the obsequious said. “I think the administration is getting beaten up on this a little bit too much. Because there’s a lot of blame to go around from four different presidents who actually didn’t have the guts to get us out of Afghanistan because they were afraid of this moment and what an exit might look like.”
Again, many presidents oversaw the 20-year war in Afghanistan, but only one thought it’d be a good idea to evacuate U.S. military personnel before American civilians and Afghan allies, shutter the strategically situated Bagram Air Base, and designate Hamid Karzai International Airport, which is located in a dense urban area and is currently surrounded on all sides by Taliban forces, as the sole evacuation point in the entire country.
Only one president created the conditions that led to hundreds of Americans being left behind. Only one president created the conditions that led to a deadly attack outside Kabul, which killed 13 U.S. servicemen and hundreds of Afghans.
Lemon’s colleague, Chris Cuomo, was the one to note correctly that the State Department’s sense of urgency for rescuing the remaining Americans in Afghanistan seems lacking.
“Well, that’s a whole different thing,” responded Lemon. “I think they’re separate things here. We’re talking about everything doesn’t have to all be lumped in one basket.
He added, “You can see getting all those people out was a success. You can see that.”
“It’s our job to be critical,” Lemon said, just moments after saying everyone needs to stop beating up on the guy who abandoned Americans and tens of billions of dollars worth of deadly, high-grade U.S. military equipment to the Taliban.
Cuomo said, “I want a plan and an urgency to get the people out as promised.”
“It’s to be determined,” said Lemon, applying that critical thinking and scrutiny he apparently is so fond of. “We’re still seeing what’s happening.”
He added, “You can’t get them all out in five minutes. You can’t get them all out yesterday. So, what happens going forward, if we continue with this effort to get them out and we start getting them out, as many out as possible, then I think we should stop running around like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe we left so many people behind.’ We don’t know if we left them behind yet. We don’t know that.”
The Pentagon itself reports hundreds of Americans were left behind. Perhaps Lemon should try watching the news.
“I know, but here’s the one thing you’re forgetting,” said Cuomo. “I hear you, but Don. It’s easy to be level-headed when nobody’s chasing you with a machete. On the ground in Afghanistan, it’s a different reality for these people. They’re going to be hunted.”
He added, “So you don’t have a lot of time. And there has to be an urgency commensurate with the need.”
Imagine being in a two-person conversation with Chris Cuomo and not being the most intelligent, clear-eyed person involved.
