Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Trump, Conservatives Reaching For Afghanistan Narrative

Ever since Joe Biden had been elected president by huge margins and by flipping a couple "red" states Republicans have been hard at work to find a line of attack. 

Last month they think they found their opening - Afghanistan.

Despite attacking President Biden just weeks and months before the final withdrawal from the war torn country on the brink of collapse for delaying the withdrawal, as in not leaving quick enough, Republicans took the chaotic imagery of planes being swarmed by desperate Afghans as a optics gift from God. They had their new narrative - Biden bungled the end of the war.

They of course heaped tons of praise on Biden's predecessor, the disgraced Donald Trump, ignoring that the former president negotiated with the Afghan rebels (initially planning the deal around the anniversary of September 11th) where he legitimized our opponents, paved the way for a power sharing agreement with the Afghan government (our allies), and released 5000 prisoners back into the Taliban custody, many who returned back to the battlefield.

Oh yeah. Trump also removed all American troops, leaving just 2500 soldiers in the country by the time Biden took office.

Instead they claimed the Taliban were frightened under Trump, they attacked former president Barack Obama who engaged in a prisoner exchange with a few Taliban prisoners for one of our own American soldiers, blamed Biden for leaving Americans behind, complained about abandoning our Afghan allies in a bureaucratic immigration mess (that they designed), and that we just handed over billions of dollars of weapons to our enemies. 

They failed to mention many other things, such as how the Afghan government collapsed overnight or the logistical nightmare of withdrawal when lacking any troop presence in a country increasingly surrounded by opposition forces. 

Sure there could be some criticisms to be made and there should be some healthy analysis of the withdrawal process but it appears Republicans have taken armchair quarterbacking to a new level with their levels of dishonesty.

Take this post by Donald Trump touting a poll that shows a "plurality" of people blame Biden, not Trump for the problems overseas. 


Unlike many of the followers who chimed in attacking this administration's incompetence I followed the link to a poorly phrased Breitbart article.


Just check out how they conflate a whole bunch of information so it sounds bad for Biden:

"A plurality, or 43 percent, of all voters blame Biden for the situation from a domestic standpoint. A majority of Republicans, 64 percent, agree with that, as do 40 percent of independents and 28 percent of Democrats.

Across the board, 27 percent blame former President George W. Bush, 27 percent blame Congress, 25 percent blame former President Donald Trump, 24 percent blame former President Barack Obama, and 10 percent blame U.S. citizens. Notably, a plurality of Democrats, 38 percent, blame Trump.A plurality, or 43 percent, of all voters blame Biden for the situation from a domestic standpoint. A majority of Republicans, 64 percent, agree with that, as do 40 percent of independents and 28 percent of Democrats. Across the board, 27 percent blame former President George W. Bush, 27 percent blame Congress, 25 percent blame former President Donald Trump, 24 percent blame former President Barack Obama, and 10 percent blame U.S. citizens. Notably, a plurality of Democrats, 38 percent, blame Trump."


So what does the actual polling information say?

Here is what the actual source says:


What?!

I thought Biden was to blame!

Should we delve more into what the primary source says about this?

You see this is why Breitbart bum rushed the reader with a whole bunch of numbers. 43 percent say Biden is bad? They don't even include Trump in that comparison until the end of the second paragraph and the figures are confusing. They make it sound like it is all part of the same question and so you mentally compare Biden's 43 percent to Trump's 25 percent! And how is it that second run of numbers don't even mention Biden.

Here is the content of that poll:


"A plurality of voters think President George W. Bush holds the most responsibility" for Afghanistan... 

But Trump said a plural of voters blamed Biden for the happenings overseas. 

Obviously they are on to some messaging wins here, as less Americans do blame Trump less so obviously they will run with anything to try and drive those numbers more in their favor.

This is nothing new with propagandists like Breitbart, who only a couple of weeks ago had a similar "plurality" post, in which they cited a survey that blamed Biden. 

That survey of course stated that while Biden was responsible, a majority of Americans agreed with the decision. 

So again, we are a progression of this narrative that Biden is somehow worse then Trump and these lies only feed into this. Trump and company lie about this only helps drive the wedge, which is indicated by the gap in opinions based on political affiliation.

So basically, Republicans have taken to the saying that if you repeat a lie enough times people will start to believe it as fact.