What outrages me is that the news media has behaved abominably. There was a clear pile-on, a concerted effort to not only discredit the Biden administration but to attack Biden personally with accusations of incompetence, how the withdrawal was "botched" and it was all "disastrous." That's rattling around in the heads of US voters right now, and the press is rolling out the red carpet for Trump's return. They miss him; the daily scandals, those idiotic and hyperbolic tweets, the corruption - all of which they were happy to normalize even as they were openly called "the enemy of the people."
Biden has been an amazingly good president, hitting the ground running on Jan. 20 and he's still amazing. After four years of a sick joke in the WH, we have a president who not only is tough and smart, but a man whose views have evolved over the decades to something resembling wisdom. So what does the media do? Undermine him at every turn, turn every challenge into a "pending crisis," blah blah. I'm fed up to my eyeballs with the media.
No President in my lifetime has told the truth about our Wars of Choice. They have been too concerned about their political futures. Joe knows there is no guarantee of a next election, so he does what is right.
It wouldn't surprise me if, at this stage of Biden's "lifetime in politics", he decided to worry more about his 'legacy' than anything else. So he will try to please as many people as possible and this will be his "swan song". Have to feed the ego!,,,and if there's anything most politicians have in common, its a massive ego. Easy prediction.
He doesn’t need to worry about his legacy at age 78 or whatever. He is trying to do what is right. We may agree or disagree with him. I respect his efforts, even if they fail. At least he cares about ALL of the American people and not only those with big bucks.
Yes, that's exactly the 'image' he's been 'trying' to convey for all those years he's been sucking on the public teat. I see it works! (maybe you should examine his voting record a bit more closely)-or do you think that someone who's been in the filthy game of politics for his entire adult life is suddenly going to find Jesus or something equally grand. Do you also believe in other miracles? As we say in aviation, "he's on final with the runway in sight"; as with all big-wigs, he's more concerned with his legacy than anything else at this point in his diminishing life.
Yes, I'm very familiar with his voting record just as its clear that you're not. Being a "lifelong catholic" does not grant Biden anything but personal benefit and it has no bearing on the events being discussed. Your opinion of me is duly noted, as well as ignored for the same reason as Biden's Catholic association.
Are you saying he is trying to get Americans out of Afghanistan to look good? So far we have moved 104, 000 people out of that mess. Did you notice he did not ask the commercial airlines for help but demanded it. That is not being a wuss. It’s called using his office to make things happen. Bush/Cheney got us into this mess while Obama and Trump gave lip service to get us out. That country is a black hole.
Meanwhile, I know Biden is not perfect. I hope I am never held accountable for stuff I said or did 40 years ago. He has matured.
BUT, he cares a lot more about this country than Trump. All that man cared about was money and his billionaire friends. He said anything to look good and keep his name out there.
Finally, Biden is more of a Christian than Trump ever was. You could say the same of Bush and Obama.
No one is comparing Biden to Trump! That's outlandish! One is a no-good con artist from the nation's cesspool, NYC while the other is a career politician with all that that might imply. And this is not about 'religion', which is never even discussed when deciding to go to war or when deciding to end a war. I never accused him of being a "wuss". I said his motives may be questioned. He knew the war was unpopular, due to its longevity alone, and as a crafty politician, especially one whose reputation is "being all things to all men", he would naturally pay more attention to the people, at this stage of his career, than to the Military-industrial-congressional-complex, which had his undivided attention during his formative years.
He has had decades to look good and doesn’t need chest beating. At his age he is beyond that. All we have to do is look at some of the folks in Congress to see egos. And it’s not just among the conservatives.
"All we have to do is look at some of the folks in Congress to see egos",,, yes, that precisely defines Biden, who has been in Congress ALL of his adult life. Or do you have a reason for omitting him that you'd like to share?
Your stark inability to express yourself is evident in your dependence on crude insults. That photo shows your head coming to a point,,,must be painful, judging from your expression.
I made no pretense of knowing you, I'm simply going by your photo, which clearly shows a pointed head and a pained expression. If that doesn't represent you, then its on you to change the photo. Unlike you, my ego doesn't suffer without a photo of my countenance and it's absence in no way alters or buffers whatever I have to contribute.
Just wrote to the WhiteHouse using the link you gave, addressed my message to Vice-President Kamala Harris, and suggested that SHE be the one to sign the ERA with President Biden by her side. 🙂
I just sent an email to President Biden with two things: A heartfelt thanks for doing such an incredibly good job bringing the Afghan war to an end and saving so many live. And urging him to sign the long-overdue ERA on Women's Equality Day. Thanks for the suggestion!
Michael Moore you rock!! My partner and I have been so confused about how the Biden Administration has been talked about...he is the Commander and Chief and doing an amazing job. Thank you thank you for putting words to our thoughts and discussions. And what is up with the press and the nasty way they ask questions????
Oh Jake is better and more of a kinder and definitely more professional reporter and has 100% more compassion. 🤣Every station has to have 1 aggressive reporter to stand out for those ratings ! Jake is POLISHED for sure ! 😜. But all joking aside, I like Jake a lot.
Even some of the Democratic Senators have it wrong...So sad....Thanks for standing up for the truth....I am exhausted by all the armchair generals and their Biden Bashing....
Thank you Michael, I totally agree Biden is the best President we have had in a long time, accomplishing so many things to help many different people. I am so thankful he ended the war in Afghanistan. I really appreciate him, and I will write and tell him so. I just hope in the near future he will do something to help the seniors in our country, especially the disabled seniors.
Mike, I thoroughly appreciate any effort to get at the truth, which appears to be the most elusive element of our "government of the people" but I'd like to see a 'national effort' aimed at getting the president, as the current most prominent spokesman for the nation, to 'publicly" issue an "Official Apology" for lying us into the many recent wars of choice based on lies. I see this as a first step in ever getting the public's trust. I see the new governor of New York has made 'telling the truth' the hallmark of her administration. She, at least understands, what's been missing in our government, on all levels. Truth!!......... The many who died or were maimed in these wars deserve this 'Official Apology',,, all the rest of the "thoughts and prayers" are pure escapist hogwash.
I don’t think we will ever get an apology. But, I agree, these wars have been so unnecessary. I knew the Iraq war was a huge waste of time. We could have toppled Sadam Hussein without so much money and lives spent. And definitely could have gone into Afghanistan to eliminate all the training camps plus find Bin Laden. Then got ourselves out!
There's as much purpose in keeping the demand public, as in actually getting an apology. Ir's like a demonstration that won't go away. The American public should demand an official apology from their government for lying to them and for causing the death of so many without a just cause. This is a criminal action and someone ought to be held to account for it and while that's not apt to happen in our corrupt government, we can at least keep the issue alive by insisting on an 'official apology'. Otherwise, we become nothing but a flock of sheep being led to slaughter in phony wars, by a government that in no way represents us but uses us as cannon fodder for the imperial ambition and profit of the few. Otherwise, it's also only a matter of time before another war is concocted by the same profiteers, who cynically can rely on the public memory being short.
Sorry he makes a mess that endangers all those people then he manages to do something and save 100,000 of them that he originally put in danger. I should thank him for that?
He didn't make the mess..Trump did. Yes it could have been planned better but Trumps State Dept slow rolled the Afghan Visas and did nothing to get them out or let Biden in during the nonexistent transition AND released 5000 Taliban prisoners including the new Taliban leader who he surrendered Afghanistan to. Who screwed it up again. Looks like the fix was in.
Try getting ANYTHING down with a rainstorm deluge of legal attacks slamming you on the head. It does put a damper on your plans. Maybe you have never suffered this way but I have. It paralyzes you. But he fought on through all of them. He just didn't and couldn't win them all.
Trump earned his legal troubles as he always tried to cut corners. Now he is in a world of hurt. It doesn’t help that really good lawyers don’t want to work for him as he has a history of not paying his bills.
I think the most neutral place to check on Trump and his legal woes, is USA Today. It is extremely middle of the road since it is sold everywhere in the country.
And believe it or not, the British newspaper, The Guardian, has very good research on everything they write about.
They have been taken over and now spout the "Approved Narrative". GG was terminated at The Guardian after he published Snowden's papers with them making them a star above their former brilliant expose lights. USA Today is Media for the Masses type of paer that first came out with lots of colored pictures for non literary types. Are you one of them?
Michael. I must challenge the premise you make at the start of the podcast.
From what I understand from connected British Afghanistan experts, the intel gave three possible options, including what actually happened, so the intel was not wrong, Biden simply chose the wrong scenario.
Second, the armed forces across all nationalities required to continue maintaining peace in Afghanistan is around 2500. You call it a war, yet no US deaths have occurred in the last 18 months. The place was stable and could have maintained stability with this minimal, almost zero risk strategy.
The Afghan forces capitulated so quickly because they had no backup. Effective defence requires air cover. At the same time as the armed forces were withdrawn, so were the aircraft maintenance crews. The Afghan armed forces had planes but no means to fly them. Why not, you ask? Because 20 years ago literacy in Afghanistan was almost zero. It take more than one generation to educate sufficient people to take these kind of jobs.
Your assumption that the Afghans wanted us out. Not true from any of the sources I have heard in Afghanistan, including charities and NGOs on the ground, military veterans. If the US has no place in Afghanistan against this background which goes against your assessment, then why has the US had a force of 25,000 in South Korea for the last 70 years? Surely on that basis, you need to get out of there too?
You also say no deaths by the Taliban once they swept in. There are concrete reports that Taliban fighters have gone door to door looking for ‘collaborators’, threatening families, shooting people and killing those who have helped the coalition forces.
In the meantime, women now must wear full burka, they are being turned away from education institutions, sent home from work. Towns outside of Kabul, all girls and women between 15 and (widows up to) 42 are to be given to Taliban soldiers to be their wives. Over the last 20 years this had changed. It is now going back to the Stone Age.
I cannot understand where you get this 104,000 people saved. Nonsense. They were not at risk prior to our withdrawal. These ISIS suicide bombers would not have done a thing had we still supported the Afghan troops, with a working Air Force.
The ‘forever war’ narrative is a false one. There would have been no need for refugees had we maintained a small force with support at very small cost.
Tens of thousands of Afghans who supported the coalition remain and I predict many of them will now die. Your positive spin on this is way off mark.
As usual, The Guardian writes another excellent article!
There have been many companies who have made a ton of money with us being in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, etc. They are the only ones who have benefited. Civilians and our service personnel have not.
What outrages me is that the news media has behaved abominably. There was a clear pile-on, a concerted effort to not only discredit the Biden administration but to attack Biden personally with accusations of incompetence, how the withdrawal was "botched" and it was all "disastrous." That's rattling around in the heads of US voters right now, and the press is rolling out the red carpet for Trump's return. They miss him; the daily scandals, those idiotic and hyperbolic tweets, the corruption - all of which they were happy to normalize even as they were openly called "the enemy of the people."
Biden has been an amazingly good president, hitting the ground running on Jan. 20 and he's still amazing. After four years of a sick joke in the WH, we have a president who not only is tough and smart, but a man whose views have evolved over the decades to something resembling wisdom. So what does the media do? Undermine him at every turn, turn every challenge into a "pending crisis," blah blah. I'm fed up to my eyeballs with the media.
Nevertheless, without them, and they aren't all bad, we'd be NKorea.
According to Reporters Without Borders' 2021 press freedom index, the US rates 44th on a list of 180 countries. I find that quite disturbing.
No President in my lifetime has told the truth about our Wars of Choice. They have been too concerned about their political futures. Joe knows there is no guarantee of a next election, so he does what is right.
It wouldn't surprise me if, at this stage of Biden's "lifetime in politics", he decided to worry more about his 'legacy' than anything else. So he will try to please as many people as possible and this will be his "swan song". Have to feed the ego!,,,and if there's anything most politicians have in common, its a massive ego. Easy prediction.
He doesn’t need to worry about his legacy at age 78 or whatever. He is trying to do what is right. We may agree or disagree with him. I respect his efforts, even if they fail. At least he cares about ALL of the American people and not only those with big bucks.
Yes, that's exactly the 'image' he's been 'trying' to convey for all those years he's been sucking on the public teat. I see it works! (maybe you should examine his voting record a bit more closely)-or do you think that someone who's been in the filthy game of politics for his entire adult life is suddenly going to find Jesus or something equally grand. Do you also believe in other miracles? As we say in aviation, "he's on final with the runway in sight"; as with all big-wigs, he's more concerned with his legacy than anything else at this point in his diminishing life.
Have you read his record? It's very impressive. And he's a lifelong catholic. Oh. And you are a POS!
Yes, I'm very familiar with his voting record just as its clear that you're not. Being a "lifelong catholic" does not grant Biden anything but personal benefit and it has no bearing on the events being discussed. Your opinion of me is duly noted, as well as ignored for the same reason as Biden's Catholic association.
Are you saying he is trying to get Americans out of Afghanistan to look good? So far we have moved 104, 000 people out of that mess. Did you notice he did not ask the commercial airlines for help but demanded it. That is not being a wuss. It’s called using his office to make things happen. Bush/Cheney got us into this mess while Obama and Trump gave lip service to get us out. That country is a black hole.
Meanwhile, I know Biden is not perfect. I hope I am never held accountable for stuff I said or did 40 years ago. He has matured.
BUT, he cares a lot more about this country than Trump. All that man cared about was money and his billionaire friends. He said anything to look good and keep his name out there.
Finally, Biden is more of a Christian than Trump ever was. You could say the same of Bush and Obama.
No one is comparing Biden to Trump! That's outlandish! One is a no-good con artist from the nation's cesspool, NYC while the other is a career politician with all that that might imply. And this is not about 'religion', which is never even discussed when deciding to go to war or when deciding to end a war. I never accused him of being a "wuss". I said his motives may be questioned. He knew the war was unpopular, due to its longevity alone, and as a crafty politician, especially one whose reputation is "being all things to all men", he would naturally pay more attention to the people, at this stage of his career, than to the Military-industrial-congressional-complex, which had his undivided attention during his formative years.
If Biden did this to look good, I would say that strategy has backfired.
If, as a politician he did this to look good, its a least a step up from doing it to please big donors, the real owners of out government.
He has had decades to look good and doesn’t need chest beating. At his age he is beyond that. All we have to do is look at some of the folks in Congress to see egos. And it’s not just among the conservatives.
"All we have to do is look at some of the folks in Congress to see egos",,, yes, that precisely defines Biden, who has been in Congress ALL of his adult life. Or do you have a reason for omitting him that you'd like to share?
Your stark inability to express yourself is evident in your dependence on crude insults. That photo shows your head coming to a point,,,must be painful, judging from your expression.
I made no pretense of knowing you, I'm simply going by your photo, which clearly shows a pointed head and a pained expression. If that doesn't represent you, then its on you to change the photo. Unlike you, my ego doesn't suffer without a photo of my countenance and it's absence in no way alters or buffers whatever I have to contribute.
Just wrote to the WhiteHouse using the link you gave, addressed my message to Vice-President Kamala Harris, and suggested that SHE be the one to sign the ERA with President Biden by her side. 🙂
Great idea! wish I would have thought of that!
I just sent an email to President Biden with two things: A heartfelt thanks for doing such an incredibly good job bringing the Afghan war to an end and saving so many live. And urging him to sign the long-overdue ERA on Women's Equality Day. Thanks for the suggestion!
Bless Michael and Joe Biden.
Brilliant podcast Michael! Just so you know, Krystal and Saager on Breaking Points also talk about what a great job Biden is doing in Afghanistan.
Michael Moore you rock!! My partner and I have been so confused about how the Biden Administration has been talked about...he is the Commander and Chief and doing an amazing job. Thank you thank you for putting words to our thoughts and discussions. And what is up with the press and the nasty way they ask questions????
Jake Tapper is the Sean Hannity of CNN.
Surely Jake deserves better than comparison with the likes of Hannity! LOL
Oh Jake is better and more of a kinder and definitely more professional reporter and has 100% more compassion. 🤣Every station has to have 1 aggressive reporter to stand out for those ratings ! Jake is POLISHED for sure ! 😜. But all joking aside, I like Jake a lot.
Hannity has a punchable face.
Oh, you noticed that too?? lol
Thank you, and by the way did Laura Ingraham get a face, lip, and boob job? Did Carson work on her brain also? She could use a punch also.
I was thinking when viewing her once, that she had an unnatural look in and around her mouth--like her teeth didn't quite fit.
Probably not her teeth or just from giving blow jobs to O'Reilly and Hannity and probably the building janitor.
LoL - Brilliant Comment, but made me giggle.
Even some of the Democratic Senators have it wrong...So sad....Thanks for standing up for the truth....I am exhausted by all the armchair generals and their Biden Bashing....
The view is great from the cheap seats.
Thank you Michael, I totally agree Biden is the best President we have had in a long time, accomplishing so many things to help many different people. I am so thankful he ended the war in Afghanistan. I really appreciate him, and I will write and tell him so. I just hope in the near future he will do something to help the seniors in our country, especially the disabled seniors.
Mike, I thoroughly appreciate any effort to get at the truth, which appears to be the most elusive element of our "government of the people" but I'd like to see a 'national effort' aimed at getting the president, as the current most prominent spokesman for the nation, to 'publicly" issue an "Official Apology" for lying us into the many recent wars of choice based on lies. I see this as a first step in ever getting the public's trust. I see the new governor of New York has made 'telling the truth' the hallmark of her administration. She, at least understands, what's been missing in our government, on all levels. Truth!!......... The many who died or were maimed in these wars deserve this 'Official Apology',,, all the rest of the "thoughts and prayers" are pure escapist hogwash.
I don’t think we will ever get an apology. But, I agree, these wars have been so unnecessary. I knew the Iraq war was a huge waste of time. We could have toppled Sadam Hussein without so much money and lives spent. And definitely could have gone into Afghanistan to eliminate all the training camps plus find Bin Laden. Then got ourselves out!
There's as much purpose in keeping the demand public, as in actually getting an apology. Ir's like a demonstration that won't go away. The American public should demand an official apology from their government for lying to them and for causing the death of so many without a just cause. This is a criminal action and someone ought to be held to account for it and while that's not apt to happen in our corrupt government, we can at least keep the issue alive by insisting on an 'official apology'. Otherwise, we become nothing but a flock of sheep being led to slaughter in phony wars, by a government that in no way represents us but uses us as cannon fodder for the imperial ambition and profit of the few. Otherwise, it's also only a matter of time before another war is concocted by the same profiteers, who cynically can rely on the public memory being short.
Out of the ballpark again!!!! Thanks for always speaking the truth to us
He ALWAYS does. Brilliant Gentleman. Great Comment.
Sorry he makes a mess that endangers all those people then he manages to do something and save 100,000 of them that he originally put in danger. I should thank him for that?
He didn't make the mess..Trump did. Yes it could have been planned better but Trumps State Dept slow rolled the Afghan Visas and did nothing to get them out or let Biden in during the nonexistent transition AND released 5000 Taliban prisoners including the new Taliban leader who he surrendered Afghanistan to. Who screwed it up again. Looks like the fix was in.
Ha! That mess was started by Bush/Cheney. Trump was not fast enough in his execution of getting us out.
Biden had to come in and get the job done, even if it looked like a mess.
Try getting ANYTHING down with a rainstorm deluge of legal attacks slamming you on the head. It does put a damper on your plans. Maybe you have never suffered this way but I have. It paralyzes you. But he fought on through all of them. He just didn't and couldn't win them all.
Trump earned his legal troubles as he always tried to cut corners. Now he is in a world of hurt. It doesn’t help that really good lawyers don’t want to work for him as he has a history of not paying his bills.
I know nothing about all this political gossip. It can sound credible but are its sources pedigree as Le Carre would say.
I think the most neutral place to check on Trump and his legal woes, is USA Today. It is extremely middle of the road since it is sold everywhere in the country.
And believe it or not, the British newspaper, The Guardian, has very good research on everything they write about.
Google both of those newspapers.
They have been taken over and now spout the "Approved Narrative". GG was terminated at The Guardian after he published Snowden's papers with them making them a star above their former brilliant expose lights. USA Today is Media for the Masses type of paer that first came out with lots of colored pictures for non literary types. Are you one of them?
Thank you. i am usually a big supporter of the news media, but they got this one wrong. Or as the old saying goes, "back ass backwards!"
God bless President Biden! Thank you Michael, for bringing this truth home to us.
Michael. I must challenge the premise you make at the start of the podcast.
From what I understand from connected British Afghanistan experts, the intel gave three possible options, including what actually happened, so the intel was not wrong, Biden simply chose the wrong scenario.
Second, the armed forces across all nationalities required to continue maintaining peace in Afghanistan is around 2500. You call it a war, yet no US deaths have occurred in the last 18 months. The place was stable and could have maintained stability with this minimal, almost zero risk strategy.
The Afghan forces capitulated so quickly because they had no backup. Effective defence requires air cover. At the same time as the armed forces were withdrawn, so were the aircraft maintenance crews. The Afghan armed forces had planes but no means to fly them. Why not, you ask? Because 20 years ago literacy in Afghanistan was almost zero. It take more than one generation to educate sufficient people to take these kind of jobs.
Your assumption that the Afghans wanted us out. Not true from any of the sources I have heard in Afghanistan, including charities and NGOs on the ground, military veterans. If the US has no place in Afghanistan against this background which goes against your assessment, then why has the US had a force of 25,000 in South Korea for the last 70 years? Surely on that basis, you need to get out of there too?
You also say no deaths by the Taliban once they swept in. There are concrete reports that Taliban fighters have gone door to door looking for ‘collaborators’, threatening families, shooting people and killing those who have helped the coalition forces.
In the meantime, women now must wear full burka, they are being turned away from education institutions, sent home from work. Towns outside of Kabul, all girls and women between 15 and (widows up to) 42 are to be given to Taliban soldiers to be their wives. Over the last 20 years this had changed. It is now going back to the Stone Age.
I cannot understand where you get this 104,000 people saved. Nonsense. They were not at risk prior to our withdrawal. These ISIS suicide bombers would not have done a thing had we still supported the Afghan troops, with a working Air Force.
The ‘forever war’ narrative is a false one. There would have been no need for refugees had we maintained a small force with support at very small cost.
Tens of thousands of Afghans who supported the coalition remain and I predict many of them will now die. Your positive spin on this is way off mark.
As an addendum, I just read an article posted on the Guardian website posted by a British soldier of his experience in Afghanistan. If this allows links (?) here it is. I am taking all views and happy to debate any points made, but will resist this becoming an echo chamber. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/27/afghanistan-nato-mission-corruption-military-soldier?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
As usual, The Guardian writes another excellent article!
There have been many companies who have made a ton of money with us being in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, etc. They are the only ones who have benefited. Civilians and our service personnel have not.