On Friday, Donald Trump blasted Joe Biden for his “horribly” managed 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan that got 13 American service members killed.
The moment came during a three-hour conversation between the former president and comedian Joe Rogan on the latter’s “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. The men were discussing the implications of U.S. foreign policy under Biden and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Trump said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin “would have never” invaded Ukraine if he was still president, and contended the “number one” reason Putin launched his offensive is because “he doesn’t respect Biden at all.”
“Not even a little bit. And who the hell would?” Trump asked.
The former president cited Biden’s disastrous pull-out from Afghanistan three years ago and said the Delaware Democrat handled the situation “horribly.” He specifically slammed Biden for pulling out American military personnel before all U.S. civilians were evacuated from the country.
“Number one, you take the soldiers out last, not first. … That was their big mistake,” Trump said. Biden “left the equipment behind, 13 soldiers dead [because of it], but he took everybody out. He took his soldiers out before — a child would know [better].”
The Republican presidential nominee also slammed former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Mark Milley as “stupid,” and added that the generals who helped spearhead the Afghanistan withdrawal “should have all been fired.”
Rogan noted how the Biden-Harris administration left billions of dollars worth of military equipment behind, which the Taliban has since confiscated and used in parades in the streets of Kabul. He then asked Trump what he would have “done differently” in a pull-out under his administration.
Trump responded by saying that Biden “should have left last” from Bagram Air Force base and ensured that all U.S. military equipment was evacuated from the region prior to pulling out military personnel. He also claimed Milley told him that it would be “cheaper” to leave U.S. equipment behind rather than bring it back to America.
“Everything, every plane, every screw should have been taken out,” Trump said. “And … that’s when I realized Milley was a dummy. I said, ‘We’re leaving, but I want to get everything out.’ [He said], ‘Sir, it’s cheaper to leave it.’”
“It’s cheaper to leave it? Not more dangerous?” Rogan asked, to which Trump replied, “He just said cheaper.”
The former president claimed that he asked Milley if he thought “it’s cheaper to leave a $150 million brand new airplane in there than it is to fly it out with a tank of jet fuel and put it in Pakistan or just fly it directly back [to America],” and that the Army general again told him, “It’s cheaper to leave [it].”
“I said, ‘This guy’s nuts,’” Trump concluded.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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