By John Daniel Davidson | The Federalist
Joe Biden is not capable or competent to hold the office
of the presidency. If there were any doubt on this point, his press conference
Thursday evening in the wake of a pair of coordinated suicide bombings in Kabul
should put the matter to rest.
The first blast Thursday killed 13 U.S. soldiers at a
Kabul airport gate, along with scores of Afghans. Another bomb at a nearby
hotel killed dozens more. Between the two blasts, as many as 170 people
perished, not counting the U.S. service members. Hundreds more were injured,
and according to U.S. officials there may be more attacks coming.
Whatever the final body count is, Thursday was the deadliest
day for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since 2011, and the first time since
February 2020 that any U.S. service members have been killed in action
there. When the smoke finally clears, one thing is certain: Biden has been
derelict in his duty, he is unfit to lead, and he should be impeached.
At his press conference Thursday evening, the president
was slow and appeared at times to be confused, his answers rambling and
unclear. When the time came to take questions, he said he’d been given a list,
and had “been instructed” to call on certain reporters. It was a moment of
quiet dread when we all saw confirmed again, before a gaping world, that
although Biden is the president, he’s not actually running the country.
Of course Biden’s bizarre behavior at the press
conference, although deeply disturbing, does not alone justify impeachment.
Rather, it’s his fecklessness and incompetence, his failure to protect
Americans in the evacuation of Afghanistan, and his inability to speak clearly
and honestly about the situation, that justifies impeachment at this point.
Throughout this crisis, Biden and his White House have
been evasive, defensive, and cruelly indifferent to a disaster entirely of
their own making. The bare minimum for a commander in chief in this scenario is
to be clear and forthright with the American people about what it will take to
get Americans out safely, and what will happen if we can’t get them out by the
August 31 deadline. Instead, the Biden administration has blamed Donald Trump,
ducked questions, stonewalled, and generally contributed to the deadly chaos
still unfolding in Afghanistan.
Indeed, what this means for the ongoing evacuation is
unclear. It might well be over, at this point. News reports out of Kabul
indicate the U.S. military is welding shut the gates of the airport complex,
which could mean an abrupt end to evacuation efforts for an estimated 1,500
American citizens, at least, still trapped in Afghanistan.
If that is the case, we are now facing the worst hostage
crisis in American history.
Some of our allies have already acknowledged as much. On
Thursday, many of our North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies announced they
were ending
evacuation efforts, frankly conceding they are leaving behind citizens
still stranded in and around Kabul.
In a press briefing Thursday, Gen. Kenneth Frank
McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said he expects these attacks to
continue but that the U.S. military will press on with its evacuation mission.
It’s unclear, though, what that will look like, given what’s happened and the
likelihood it will happen again before the military can get American citizens,
to say nothing of U.S. soldiers and equipment, out of Kabul.
For much of the day on Thursday, Biden was again absent
and the White House silent. Hours before the president addressed the nation,
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke about the attack in Kabul. David
Marcus rightly noted how disturbing it was that the British prime minister
would speak publicly about the attack before the U.S. president did.
Indeed, five hours after the attacks on Thursday, the
only public communication from the White House was a statement about
the celebration of “Women’s Equality Day.”
The administration’s silence continues to be matched by
its incompetence. Later on Thursday, Politico
reported that U.S. officials in Kabul gave the Taliban a list of names
of American citizens, green card holders, and Afghan allies to grant entry into
the airport complex, a move that sparked outrage among lawmakers and military
officials. “Basically, they just put all those Afghans on a kill list,” one
defense official told Politico. “It’s just appalling and shocking and makes you
feel unclean.”
Even before the deadly attacks on Thursday, Sen. Lindsay
Graham this week called
for Biden’s impeachment, citing “dereliction of duty by the
commander-in-chief.” Graham is of course a foreign policy neocon who, if he had
his way, would continue the war in Afghanistan in perpetuity. But Republican
calls for Biden’s impeachment or resignation swelled
to a chorus after the Thursday attacks, and rightly so.
Some on the right will protest that impeaching Biden will
only give us President Kamala Harris, thrusting from the frying pan into the
fire. Maybe so. But at least a President Harris would know what was going on
and could be held answerable for it. At least we would know who’s running the
country.
Some will also object that any impeachment, given the
state of American politics, will perforce be merely political, or be seen as
such by half the country. Maybe so. But unlike Democrats’ two impeachments of
former President Donald Trump, impeaching Biden over his Afghanistan disaster
isn’t about political theater. Recall that Trump was impeached the first time
for a perfectly legitimate phone call, and the second time for giving an
innocuous speech to his supporters.
The impeachment of Biden, by contrast, would be about
basic competence and confidence and Biden’s ability to execute his sworn duties
as president. He has shown that he is unfit and incompetent. Now Congress
should do its duty, and impeach him.
John is the Political Editor at The
Federalist. Follow him on Twitter.
