This week marked the third solemn anniversary of the botched, deadly pullout from Afghanistan. Vice President Kamala Harris was nowhere to be seen. President Joe Biden was on his second vacation. The families of the 13 servicemembers who died in Kabul — none of whom have heard from either Biden or Harris — asked former President Donald Trump to lay a wreath in Arlington National Cemetery to mark their sacrifice.
Harris is said to have been “the last person in the room” as the fateful decision was made to evacuate Afghanistan, even as the Taliban violated Trump’s conditions-based withdrawal agreement. Yet leading is about more than making decisions — it’s about leadership — and leadership, it may be elementary to note, is about leading people. When leading those in uniform, that includes interacting with those in uniform and their families, in time of victory and of loss.
Yet during her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, Harris dismissed former Trump an “unserious man.”
But it is Harris that stands as the de facto leader of an administration that has shown itself to be entirely unserious on national security. Her position as Biden’s second-in-command has been one of presiding over a series of disastrous decisions. Harris is fully complicit in the administration’s manifold national security failures, including the most dangerous threat — covering up the extent of Biden’s mental decline.
Covering Up Biden’s Decline
Biden’s cognitive deterioration — his unsteady gait, frequent verbal gaffes, and inability to respond coherently to basic questions — signaled a serious problem for years. But it was after his final, crushing loss in the debate with Trump that Biden’s decline could no longer be hidden.
Then, after being relegated to a midnight swansong at the convention, Biden immediately slouched off to one vacation in Santa Barbara, California, followed without respite for work by another in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Biden is checked out — presuming he could ever check back in — with Harris and the Democratic Party caring only about the preservation of political power. They executed a half coup d’état, removing Biden as nominee but not going all the way via invoking the 25th Amendment. This leaves Biden’s empty husk in office to serve as a sham scapegoat, indulging Harris the fiction of running as an outsider in her own administration with the help of the media-industrial complex.
The Reagan Contrast
Contrast Biden’s actions with former President Ronald Reagan, who, in 1994, five years and 10 months after leaving office, made a public announcement to the world: He had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Reagan, then 83, chose to address his illness with courage and transparency through a heartfelt letter.
This openness allowed the nation to reflect on his legacy and marked an important chapter in America’s handling of serious medical conditions affecting leaders.
Fast forward to today, President Joe Biden is 81, and the differences between Reagan’s graceful exit and Biden’s current leadership are stark. Unlike Reagan, who acknowledged his deteriorating condition as a private citizen, Biden remains in the Oval Office as commander-in-chief. And yet, despite Biden’s incapacity, Harris and Biden’s cabinet and senior staff have covered up the president’s condition — a testament to the fundamental unseriousness (and frankly foolhardiness) of both Harris and the Biden administration.
National Security Failures
The Biden-Harris administration has presided over the most catastrophic foreign policy failures in modern American history. Consider the deadly fiasco that unfolded in Kabul in August 2021. As the U.S. prepared to withdraw from Afghanistan, a process that should have been measured and orderly turned into a chaotic disaster. Thirteen U.S. service members were killed in a suicide bombing during the evacuation, while thousands of American citizens and Afghan allies were left stranded. The rapid fall of Kabul to the Taliban, a group that harbored and aided the 9/11 terrorists, was a monumental failure of planning and execution — one in which Harris’ presence in key decision-making rooms makes her complicit, at the least. And not one general, diplomat, or national security staffer has been held to account. Not a single decision-maker has lost their job.
Then there is the Biden administration’s handling of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. After months of warning signs and clear intelligence reports pointing to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggressive designs on Ukraine, the administration failed to deter Russia’s actions. Instead, the White House watched passively as Russian forces launched a full-scale invasion of a sovereign nation in Europe. The ensuing war has led to widespread destruction, untold human suffering, and instability in global energy markets — all on the watch of an administration that should have taken stronger steps to prevent the conflict.
Most recently, Hamas’ brutal terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, underscored the Biden administration’s failure to contain the resurgence of Iran’s terror proxies. The massacre, involving rape, murder, and torture, demonstrated that the administration’s policy in the region is in tatters. Iran, the primary backer of Hamas and other terror proxies, has reemerged as a major player, emboldened by a White House that has failed to hold Tehran accountable while shipping the Iranian regime billions of dollars. The administration’s continued willingness to engage with Iran, lifting sanctions and negotiating weak nuclear deals, has only strengthened the regime’s resolve to destabilize the region.
An Unserious Administration
Harris’ comment that Trump is an “unserious man” rings hollow when considering the catastrophic failures of the administration she now effectively leads in all but title only. The Biden-Harris administration has shown itself to be utterly incapable of confronting the serious challenges facing America and the world. From foreign policy disasters to economic mismanagement, the failures of this administration are legion.
Yet in Harris’ own acceptance speech, she claimed she would, “never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend our forces and our interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists … never waver in defense of America’s security and ideals.” But we’ve long since overdrawn our accounts — we’ve written checks we can’t cash. Just last week, Harris’ U.S. Navy announced it was mothballing 17 support ships due to lack of qualified personnel — ships such as resupply vessels, fleet oilers, and transport ships. Words are cheap, deterring war is expensive, war with China would be catastrophic.
By refusing to remove Biden from office, Harris has demonstrated that she is not the capable leader she claims to be. Instead of prioritizing the safety and security of the nation, she has allowed a cognitively impaired president to remain in power, all while presiding over a series of foreign policy blunders that have emboldened America’s enemies.
The Biden-Harris administration’s unseriousness is the true national security threat. Harris’s inaction and coverup in the face of Biden’s decline, coupled with her failure to competently manage foreign policy, has left America more vulnerable than ever.
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