The media implosion continues apace

Shot: "Partisan divides in media trust widen, driven by a decline among Republicans."

Chaser: "Chris Cillizza's 'Analysis' of Why Republican Trust in the Media Has Plummeted Is Something Else."

Analysis: True

Federalist: "Biden’s Presidency Is Already A Total Disaster, And It’s All His Own Fault - President Biden is not being swept along by the currents of history, he is turning every challenge he faces into crisis and disaster."

This is the end

Fox News: "Biden breaks promise to 'stay' in Afghanistan until every American evacuated." 

Prepare the pallets of cash for the Afghan hostage crisis.

Fail to the Chief

There he goes.  There he goes again.  Gateway Pundit: "Joe Biden Slams Hand on Podium: “I’m Not Supposed to Take Any Questions But Go Ahead… I’m Not Going to Answer on Afghanistan Now” 

Mr. "The Buck stops with me" blames his generals

WSJ: "Who Abandoned Bagram Air Base? - Biden says the military, but the military says he gave them little choice."

President Biden on Thursday essentially blamed his generals for the Bagram pullout. “They concluded—the military—that Bagram was not much value added, that it was much wiser to focus on Kabul,” he said. “And so, I followed that recommendation.” What Mr. Biden neglected to mention is that the President sets the constraints under which the military draws up plans and evaluates options.

The generals and Trump are to blame; anybody but Joey.

Unnamed planners and facilitators

Red State: "Joe Biden's Afghanistan Drone Strike Against ISIS-K Is a Joke, and We Are the Punchline."

Contradicted again

Fox News: "State Department contradicts Biden's remarks that there may be a 'kill list' provided to Taliban - 'That is simply wrong, simply wrong," the State Dept spokesperson said."

This is the third or fourth time over the past week that Biden has been contradicted by administration officials within a day of making a false statement.  Who is briefing this guy?  Or does he just go out in front of the microphones and wings it?

Unconstitutional order struck down

Bloomberg: "Supreme Court Lifts Biden’s Covid Moratorium on Evictions." - “It strains credulity to believe that this statute grants the CDC the sweeping authority that it asserts,” the court said in an unsigned opinion." 

The pending hostage crisis

National Review: "Biden Just Prepared the Public for Abandoning Americans in Afghanistan."  

Can't spin this

Howard Kurtz: "Media pummeling Biden from left and right as Afghanistan crisis deepens - Some disasters defy political spin."

I think most media outlets know that the full spectrum of this disaster will become evident a week from now.

Extra - Powerline: "When you've lost the NY Times, part #3." 

Ancient wisdom

The media just can't hide it

Rich Lowry: "The Media's Finest Hour."

The White House is unfamiliar with what it’s like to be on the receiving end of the kind of media feeding frenzy that Florida governor Ron DeSantis experiences every other day (almost always involving spurious storylines).

But on Afghanistan, Joe Biden in effect set out to test how much shameless incompetence and dishonesty the media would accept. The answer? Not nearly enough.

The press is blatantly biased and has become even more so over time, repeatedly propagating false narratives that have shredded its credibility. Still, there are limits beyond which even it can’t be pushed.

I must say that I feel the same way and the lack of "Republicans pounce!" articles is proof-positive.  The cynic in me would say that journalists trapped in Afghanistan are the proverbial "liberal who has been mugged."  But I won't say that and just be happy they're doing their unbiased jobs for once.

ICYMI - Powerline: "When you've lost the NY Times, part #1" and "When you've lost the NY Times, part #2." 

Even CNN can't hide it.  CNN!

Sure was nice to get an update on the infrastructure bill

Red State: "Joe Biden, With Eyes Bloodshot and Five Hours Late, Insults Everyone Watching With Surreal Presser."  

52 hostages? Jimmy Carter was a piker

Commentary: "The Largest Hostage Crisis in American History."  

The Afghanistan collapse

Pretty much says it all

Powerline quoting the New York Times:

A week later, on July 2, Biden, in an ebullient mood, gathered a small group of reporters to celebrate new jobs numbers that he said showed that his economic recovery plan was working. But all the questions he received were about news from Afghanistan that the United States had abandoned Bagram Airfield, with little to no notice to the Afghans.

“It’s a rational drawdown with our allies,” he insisted, “so there’s nothing unusual about it.”

But as the questions persisted, on Afghanistan rather than the economy, he grew visibly annoyed. He recalled Ghani’s visit and said, “I think they have the capacity to be able to sustain the government,” although he added that there would have to be negotiations with the Taliban.

Then, for the first time, he was pressed on what the administration would do to save Kabul if it came under direct attack. “I want to talk about happy things, man,” he said.

Then ice cream was served.

Respected again in the world community

Now that the adults are back in charge.  Hot Air: "Tony Blair brands "Sleepy Joe" Biden an "imbecile" over Afghanistan withdrawal."

Earlier, according to participants at a meeting of party members, Merkel said she believed the US decision to press ahead with the withdrawal was taken for “domestic political reasons” were partly to blame.

The leader of her party, Armin Laschet, went further, calling the entire Afghanistan operation a failure and the withdrawal “the biggest debacle that NATO has suffered since its founding.”

Say what you want about Joe Biden but people just accused Trump of destroying NATO.  Joe Biden gets it done.

Extra - Powerline reports that Boris Johnson calls Biden "Sleepy Joe" behind closed doors.

Nobody should, any longer, pretend that Joe Biden is fit to lead this nation

National Review: "Joe Biden Is Who We Said He Was."  

The pandemic was a godsend, allowing him to hide in his basement for months and avoid unscripted questions. He won the election by making himself as small and low-profile as he needed to be. Opinion polls for much of this year have shown him enjoying a honeymoon period with voters tired of Trump who are happy to have an absentee president for a while.

Biden’s handling of Afghanistan has exposed all of that. Presidents can remain aloof from Capitol Hill. They can send out underlings to handle public-health guidance, lawsuits, or new regulations. But foreign crises demand active, personal leadership. That has gone badly. Everyone who said for decades that Biden was a lightweight ill-equipped to handle a major crisis has been vindicated.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, one who always overestimated and oversold his meager achievements.  And, for me, that's the thing I despise about Biden.  If he had a bit of self-awareness about his limitations, I could lend some sympathy.  But this guy has been blowing his own Cornpop Horn for 50 years and now his comeuppance is here. 

"This is the worst day by far"

Hot Air: "Reporter: British troops say the scene at Kabul airport now is the worst thing they've seen in their careers."  

Never change, NY Post

NY Post: "Biden keeps digging hole deeper on his disastrous evacuation of Afghanistan."