During a primetime Fox News interview with Sean Hannity, Donald Trump called Joe Biden withdrawing troops from Afghanistan “the greatest embarrassment in the history of our country.” Trump might be the least self-aware person on the planet, but even by his high standards, this was still a Picard facepalm-worthy admission from the man who, in the same interview, praised the Taliban for being “good fighters” and claimed that they’ve been “fighting for a thousand years.” The extremist group founded in 1994.
“The Taliban, good fighters I will tell, you, good fighters. You have to give them credit for that. They’ve been fighting for a thousand years; what they do is they fight,” Trump said, adding, “The Taliban has circled the airport, and who knows if they’re going to treat us right? All of a sudden, they’ll say – well, frankly, if they were smart, they’d really – and they are smart, they are smart. They should let the Americans out.”
That word soup was surrounded by Trump calling Afghanistan’s former president Ashraf Ghani a “total crook” and advice for Biden (“He should have taken the military equipment, because we have billions of dollars a brand-new beautiful equipment”), but people are mostly in disbelief over his refusal to give a cursory glance to the Wikipedia page for “Taliban.” It’s not the “greatest embarrassment in the history of our country” (he’s done more embarrassing things this year alone), but it’s not a great look, either.
This washed up former guy just gave props to the Taliban. This should be played after any Republican tries to speak about Afghanistan tomorrow. And the next day and the next.
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) August 18, 2021
The mind just reels and reels… https://t.co/YHdMr8K50t
— Mkay (@JoyAnnReid) August 18, 2021
Imagine a Democratic president praising the Taliban as great fighters. https://t.co/Drfmx3lSaC
— Yes, Karen (@FreeStateKaren) August 18, 2021
https://twitter.com/LSDforBreakfast/status/1427983235280162825
https://twitter.com/dylanmorchard/status/1427966237624127490
He’s legitimitizing the Taliban. https://t.co/jOJT3j2QbI
— #DollyPartonforPOTUS (@ShellyBeck20) August 18, 2021
(Via Variety)