Biden/Harris Presidency Discussion Thread

TomOnBoard

I just watched the White House briefing with Jen Psaki and Jake Sullivan (National Security Advisor).

Clear, professional, informative, somewhat empathetic to the plight of Afghanis under the future Taliban rule, without histrionics. A big help to clarify the Administration's actions, with some retrieval of the negative narrative of recent days.

Sadly, no erudite, well-researched, thought-provoking question from Peter Doocy- I assume even Fox thought it best not to allow him to be embarrassed by his own stupidity on such a sombre occasion. Also, I remarked to myself how dreadfully stupid many of that WH Press Corps actually are, as evidenced by how they asked their questions.

BonnieSituation

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764559#Comment_117764559

Isn't this usually the point where you equate everyone to each other and tell us they're all the same?

What have your criticisms of the GOP been like the last few days? I might have missed them.

jamule

Sleepy Joe has done 4D chess on the Trumpists/Gopshites.

They didn't have the balls to do it, now they can't decide if they want to be seen as wokists worrying about the poor Afghans or if they want to point out it was them that came up with the plan

hotmail.com

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117769040#Comment_117769040

Biden/American Presidency thread.

hotmail.com

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117769236#Comment_117769236

One thing is for sure that supporters of both parties don't give a toss about Afghanis. They seemed more obsessed with the next election.

y0ssar1an22

i'll be honest, i never knew biden was so beholden to trumps agreements/deals?

i thought he reversed them all the minute he got in power, i dunno, maybe i'm wrong.

TomOnBoard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117769699#Comment_117769699

Yes, I'm afraid you are wrong on that score. 

Biden reversed some previous decisions such as the Paris Climate Accord, but generally, any agreement signed on behalf of the US by a former POTUS is honoured by the incoming one, even though he might feel obliged to hold his nose while sticking with such agreements.

In this case however, bear in mind that, for the first time in modern history, Trump instructed much of his Administration not to facilitate the usual smooth transition of power to the incoming Biden Administration. Areas such as Afghanistan troop drawdown etc were not briefed in any detail to the Biden team, along with a range of other transition urgencies such as in the Covid arena. Some might call that clear and unambiguous sabotage. I'm sure history will form a view on that matter! In any case, the lack of a meaningful transition meant that the Biden team were less prepared on day1 of the new Administration than desirable, and were not in a position to take early decisions in many areas.

BonnieSituation

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117769684#Comment_117769684

Going off topic and insisting on "balance" in previous years never seemed to be a big deal for you. I wonder what has changed?

---

On the withdrawal:

I've softened my disgust the last few days on how this has all played out, seeing it was going to play out this way anyway after Trump's 'deal'.

Better to pull the plaster off quickly.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117769684#Comment_117769684

Don't be glib when it suits; you know full well any given administration in US politics is a culmination of all those that came before, mixed in with whatever shape Congress or the Senate exists at that time. Biden is picking up a presidency after the chaos of Trump's, indeed Trumpism continues to inform GOP politics, which in turn speaks to how Biden's own choices are enacted or treated. It's inescapable as part of the political conversation with the US - unless one chooses to be selective or absolutist. Would you say the discussion on 2012+ Obama couldn't speak to the GOP, given they (IIRC) controlled both houses at that point? (Indeed after the midterms this could happen again, bolstered by Trumpist GOP members)

hotmail.com

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117770295#Comment_117770295

We really can't do this rubbish again.

Melanchthon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117769991#Comment_117769991

As I commented on the other thread, trump messing around and being petty in terms of the transition wouldn't have made a difference as we know Biden ignored the advice he was given by people with the know how.

What difference does 8 months of ignoring advice make compared to 6 months of ignoring advice.

Retr0gamer

What could Biden have done? The troops were already in full withdrawal when he came to power with a skeleton force left over. How would reversing the decision, sending in more troops and breaking a peace treaty with the Taliban look? He was left with a shiteshow because of agent orange's incompetence and unfortunately completing what was left of the full withdrawal was his best option out of a number of **** options.

I very much doubt he ignored advice. I'd say this was discussed at length and following through with the withdrawal was the lesser of many evils.

BonnieSituation

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117770762#Comment_117770762

What rubbish is that?

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117770762#Comment_117770762

Wait now. You spent your time in the Trump thread insisting, berating others that all Presidential admins were the same, and nothing the prior incumbent did was especially egregious. Yet to now ask for a broad view beyond the Resolute Desk it's "rubbish"? I'd snark about moving the goalposts here but it'd feel somewhat trite.

hotmail.com

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117771447#Comment_117771447

No man. Just can't have this same debate again.

Please move on.

duploelabs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117771735#Comment_117771735

Your double standards deserve to be highlighted

TomOnBoard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117772024#Comment_117772024

Double Standards? No standards at all!

Its more like how a Seagull operates over a landfill! Screech & squak for a bit, **** some sticky and stinky substance all over ya, and fly the **** away before a lad can get his shotgun! Dive-bombing debate!

Black Swan

We just had a customer walk out of the java house that I frequent. He refused to wear a mask. He raised hell with the innocent servers, as if they made the state and county laws and regulations all by themselves. They could get fired by the owner, and the owner could be fined. The servers are getting minimum wage and have to put up with this crap.

bewareofthedog

An absolute disaster snippet of an interview from Biden on ABC, come's across as a defensive child. No surprise skimming over this thread the blame is all falling on Trump, yes Trump initiated with withdrawal of troops but Biden has had 7 months to plan this, there's no excuse for people falling out of planes. That was 4/5 days ago according to Joe so I guess it doesn't matter. Perhaps the draft dodger in chief should send over planes full of cash to stop the carnage only for it to be revealed later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISC8q9-t4SU

Retr0gamer

With a troop withdrawal that big there really isn't a way to reverse it especially if you've given up so much ground over the last couple of months. It would be like another ground invasion and how would that look. Also Trump made a peace deal with..... the Taliban. They were never going to uphold their side of the bargain and I very much doubt trying to go back to the table to renegotiate the peace deal would have helped.

This is all squarely on Trump. Perhaps it could have been less chaotic of a withdrawal but I'm guessing the US intelligence couldn't predict how ineffectual the Afghan army was. But even still I don't know how the chaos could have been lessened without armed forces to marshal it, armed forces that had been pulled out of the country.

This isn't like Trump blaming Obama for his own mistakes. Trump was very much the instigator of this disaster.

Itssoeasy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117774455#Comment_117774455

Is joe Biden a draft dodger ? A bit of old whatsboutism from you considering we know Donald trump actively went out of his way to get out of going to Vietnam.

bewareofthedog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117778382#Comment_117778382

Yes he is.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/09/16/fact-check-biden-received-multiple-draft-deferments-vietnam/5809482002/

Fact check: Biden, like Trump, received multiple draft deferments from Vietnam

Our rating: True

Based on our research, the claim that Biden received five draft deferments is TRUE. He was granted five deferments as a student before he received a medical exemption for asthma. Similarly, Trump was granted four deferments as a student before his exemption for bone spurs.

Brian?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117778778#Comment_117778778

Trump had bone Spurs that magically disappeared.

Biden has asthma he suffered with his whole life.

pixelburp

I suppose it comes down to the individual; whether a legitimate illness (a common one, that'd still be a preventative from many physical roles) can be deemed equivalent to obvious bullshít invented to dodge the draft. Both men were seeking the same result - to avoid shipping out to Vietnam - it comes down to whether we deem the methods the same.

spacecoyote

I think the fact that his son Beau also served in Iraq might show a bit of difference in the Biden family attitude towards service. I have no doubt that Biden didn't want to go to war, but as above asthma is a genuine condition that would be a risk to have on the ground in a warzone I would assume. Disappearing "Bone Spurs" definitely seems a bit more loose in terms of genuine conditions.

Melanchthon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117779061#Comment_117779061

Bidens made points multiple times himself about how physically fit he is and his supporters constantly mentioned it so I don't think that thinking really holds up.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117779446#Comment_117779446

You can be physically fit without having respiratory strength. However, you can be prohibited from military service due to respiratory strength, regardless of physical fitness.

Sierra Oscar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117774455#Comment_117774455

It was also 2 days ago when he made the interview, not 4 or 5 days.

Brian?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117779446#Comment_117779446

Some of the fittest people in the world have asthma. You haven’t a clue what you’re talking about.

You can’t send someone with asthma to fight a war because they’d be a weak link in a unit and put the rest of the soldiers in his unit in danger.

bewareofthedog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117779754#Comment_117779754

Laughable hyper partisan nonsense. He wrote in his own diaries how fit he was, he played college football and was a lifeguard pre draft with zero issues. It's only when Vietnam came calling did the "asthma" show up. Admit he dodged the draft and move on instead of writing such rubbish.