The White House announced President Joe Biden was heading back to Camp David after he delivered a speech at the White House on Monday discussing the situation in Afghanistan.
Per several reports, the White House told the press that Biden would depart Washington, D.C., en route to Camp David at 4:50 p.m. on Monday.
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) August 16, 2021
Several commentators on Twitter panned the president’s decision.
Stephen L. Miller tweeted, “I’m sorry what?”
I'm sorry what?
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) August 16, 2021
Meghan McCain tweeted, “I don’t understand…”
I don’t understand… https://t.co/jhnIqIPniq
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) August 16, 2021
On CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” correspondent Jeff Zeleny commented on the decision for Biden to return to Camp David.
Zeleny said, “Optics, as you know, Jake, are very important for any president. So the president going back to Camp David — very important optically, as well — they are trying to show they have this crisis under control. We’ll see, of course, if he comes back to the White House and has to speak again.”
The president has been criticized across the board for his response to the situation in Afghanistan.
As The Daily Wire reported, “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) slammed President Joe Biden Sunday evening after the Afghan government collapsed as the United States evacuated its forces from the country.”
McConnell said that the ongoing chaos in Afghanistan is “the embarrassment of a superpower laid low.”
“Everyone saw this coming except the President, who publicly and confidently dismissed these threats just a few weeks ago. The strategic, humanitarian, and moral consequences of this self-inflicted wound will hurt our country and distract from other challenges for years to come,” McConnell stated.
McConnell’s statement continued, in part:
A proud superpower has been reduced to hoping the Taliban will not interfere with our efforts to flee Afghanistan. God knows what fate awaits vulnerable Afghans who cannot make it to Kabul to board one of the final flights out. Terrorists and major competitors like China are watching the embarrassment of a superpower laid low.
It did not have to happen this way. The United States had the capacity to avoid this disaster. We still have the capacity to dampen its effects, but without a presence on the ground or local partners, defending the homeland from a resurgent al Qaeda will be far more difficult.
The Biden administration has generally exhibited a slow response to the situation in Afghanistan. As the chaos escalated, members of the administration appeared detached.
“White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is reportedly taking the entire week off as Democrat President Joe Biden remains hidden from public view as the crisis in Afghanistan unfolds,” The Daily Wire reported on Sunday.
Fox News reports:
Fox News sent questions to Psaki’s White House email address Sunday morning and received an auto-reply. Hours later, on Sunday evening, Fox News attempted once again to reach the White House spokeswoman. The same auto-reply, stating that the voice of the White House would not be available for the next week, was sent.
As The Daily Wire reported on Monday, “President Joe Biden fled a news conference that he gave at the White House on Monday afternoon about the debacle that has unfolded on his watch amid the U.S. withdrawal in Afghanistan, refusing to take questions from the media after delivering his remarks.”
“During his remarks, Biden sought to cast blame on others for the situation that unfolded on his watch and then, after finishing his short speech, he turned his back and bolted from the room as reporters shouted questions,” it noted.
WATCH:
WATCH: Joe Biden takes no questions after speech on botched Afghanistan withdrawal. pic.twitter.com/v0bouKhGes
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 16, 2021