'He didn't absorb a ton': Trump gets brutally mocked over his 'insane' idea for Afghanistan withdrawal
President Donald J. Trump speaks with military service personnel Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020, during a Thanksgiving video teleconference call from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House.
With the Taliban now in total control of Afghanistan for the first time since 2001, former President Donald Trump is claiming that President Joe Biden deserves all of the blame — failing to acknowledge Biden was essentially following Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's plan for withdrawing U.S. troops from that country, although at a slower pace. And Trump is being mocked unmercifully on Twitter for his ludicrous statements.
Trump, in a statement, said, "First you bring out all of the American citizens. Then you bring out ALL equipment. Then you bomb the bases into smithereens — AND THEN YOU BRING OUT THE MILITARY. You don't do it in reverse order like Biden and our woke Generals did. No chaos, no death — they wouldn't even know we left!"
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman tweeted Trump's statement, commenting:
Starting to get the sense he didn\u2019t absorb a ton about the realities of the presidency while doing the jobpic.twitter.com/BXPE9cLSIM— Maggie Haberman (@Maggie Haberman) 1629398929
After reading Haberman's tweet, conservative attorney George Conway — one of Trump's most vehement critics on the right— posted:
"dopes and babies"— George Conway (@George Conway) 1629399265
Here are some more responses to Trump's statement:
So, he thinks bombing the bases before withdrawing the military would've been a great plan. Then claims no one would notice the bombing of the bases to smithereens. Also noticeably absent is any mention of Afghan SIV holders or at-risk civilians.— JKMcDonald (@JKMcDonald) 1629400092
Interesting how he thinks they wouldn\u2019t notice bombing bases to smithereens— KATHY FL (@KATHY FL) 1629401757
the Trump statement today about exploding America\u2019s military bases before the US military even leave Afghanistan, which then sideswipes \u201cwoke\u201d military leaders and then argues that doing that would somehow result in no chaos or death in the aftermath is a work of art— Asawin Suebsaeng (@Asawin Suebsaeng) 1629402085
So Trump's set of Afghanistan instructions were:\n\n1 Have the military give up all their equipment\n2 Bomb the bases where the military is stationed\n3 Then have the military leave.\n\nYeah, I think I may know why generals didn't want to follow those directions.— Mark Sumner (@Mark Sumner) 1629402666
You bomb the bases to smithereens and THEN bring out the military?https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1428428758038503426\u00a0\u2026— Josh Dawsey (@Josh Dawsey) 1629399311
Likely 2024 Republican nominee is *insane* (in addition to: cruel, corrupt, incompetent, authoritarian, anti-US)https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1428428758038503426\u00a0\u2026— David Rothschild (@David Rothschild) 1629399565
Some, shall we say, flaws in Trump's genius idea: Take all the weapons and equipment away from US forces; then bomb their bases, where they are taking cover because they have no equipment. Then bring out what's left of them.— Frida Ghitis (@Frida Ghitis) 1629394447
Also: Super Genius Trump says we should have had thousands of troops in Afghanistan with no military bases or military equipment.— Jonathan Bernstein (@Jonathan Bernstein) 1629400073
In fairness, this is the same guy who thought we should nuke a hurricane so his understanding of "how bombs work" is not the best.https://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/1428400925165633541\u00a0\u2026— Elie Mystal (@Elie Mystal) 1629397074
