In many respects, this is not surprising — but it’s certainly disappointing.
Former Vice President Joe Biden — still angling to be the nominee of the Democratic National Committee in the 2020 presidential election, despite many stumbles along the way — will not give any credit at all to President Donald Trump for the daring raid over the weekend that took out ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and removed the vicious extremist as a threat from the world stage.
Not only will he not praise him or give the president any credit — he blasted him, as numerous outlets reported.
On Monday, Biden shared blunt thoughts about Trump on this issue.
“As more details of the raid emerge,” said Biden in a statement, “it’s clear that this victory was not due to Donald Trump’s leadership. It happened despite his ineptitude as commander-in-chief.”
Biden praised the successful operation and the role America’s national security officials and others played in it.
But he slammed the president.
“It’s been reported that Trump’s reckless decision to withdraw our troops from northern Syria [recently] forced the planning for the mission to be accelerated and the timeline compressed,” said Biden in his statement.
“His erratic behavior made it harder and more dangerous for the special forces carrying it out,” he also said.
“And they had to fly through territory that is now hostile to the U.S., taking fire along the way—including territory we controlled just weeks ago.”
Biden also said that “Trump has also made it less likely we will be able to successfully replicate a mission like this in the future. The operation leveraged a limited presence of U.S. counterterrorism capabilities in the region, which he keeps trying to dismantle,” as Fox News reported of Biden’s comments.
Biden also said this: “He has no strategy for anything. Every day that Donald Trump directs American national security is a dangerous day for the United States.”
The former vice president is hardly alone among Democrats in not just withholding praise for Trump but in going after him on this (and of course other issues).
Dems actually worked very hard, it appeared to many people, to try to avoid complimenting the president on a successful and important raid — while in some cases complaining they were not told in advance and felt left out of the process.
Can you believe that Shifty Adam Schiff, the biggest leaker in D.C., and a corrupt politician, is upset that we didn’t inform him before we raided and killed the #1 terrorist in the WORLD!? Wouldn’t be surprised if the Do Nothing Democrats Impeach me over that! DRAIN THE SWAMP!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2019
But Trump, for his part, suggested that Democrats in Congress — who have been engaged in an impeachment push against the president “that has been fraught with leaked information to the media,” as Fox News noted — were not informed ahead of the raid out of concern they might compromise the operation with leaks.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), speaking on Sunday morning to Maria Bartiromo of the Fox News Channel about the news, noted, “This was a hard call by the president. He deserves a lot of credit, but the glory goes to the men and women who planned this operation, executed it. Last night the best of America met the worst of mankind in Baghdadi and the good guys won.”
Graham also said, “I just cannot tell you how much of a reminder this should be to the people aligned with us that America will not forget acts of terrorism and those who oppose us. We will never forget you — and we’ll always come after you.”
The GOP senator repeated many of those sentiments on “Hannity” on Fox News on Monday night, stressing that the president deserves “great credit” for the successful mission.
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