It’s a moment he’s spoken of before, but on Tuesday President Trump told his Cabinet and reporters in attendance about the moment he knew his Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during his first term, former Gen. Mark Milley, was a blithering idiot.
It happened as the administration was reducing our presence in Afghanistan, an operation that Joe Biden later took over when he came into office and disastrously screwed up. Tragically, 13 U.S. servicemembers and hundreds of Afghanis lost their lives in the chaotic August 2021 withdrawal.
But before that, Milley advised Trump to leave billions behind in equipment as we began to get our forces out of the country. Trump was incredulous, as he recounted to the Cabinet:
Milley said, I remember one time, “Sir, we’re better off leaving the equipment.”
"Why?”
“Well It's cheaper."
I said, "Cheaper? You mean, it's cheaper to leave a $150 million airplane, rather than flying into Pakistan or India or someplace, or just flying it straight home, is cheap?”
“Yes, sir.”
That's when I knew he was an idiot. It didn't take long to figure that one out. But they left all that equipment, but they left their dignity behind.
It was the most embarrassing moment, in my opinion, in the history of our country.
Watch:
The president continued, shredding Joe Biden and his administration for the terrible job they did and said he wouldn’t have made some of the disastrous decisions as the former president, like abandoning Bagram airbase:
I would have kept Bagram, the big airbase, which right now is controlled by China. Among the most powerful runways in the world. Thick, thick with concrete and steel, anything that landed right now, there were one hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons. I was keeping it. Outside of that, we were leaving, and I would have been out faster than them, but we would have gotten out with strength and dignity.
Instead, that was the most botched-up, mess I've ever seen. They left all that equipment behind, and every year they have a parade running down some third-rate street with the equipment and it's supposed to be 5th Avenue, and it doesn't work. But with all that equipment that they left, they should have taken every ounce of it.
I was taking every, I said, every screw, every bolt, every nail, you take out of there.
Although the president has made similar remarks on the campaign trail and at rallies, his points bear repeating because the effects of the decision to abandon all that equipment are still being felt today as we essentially armed the Taliban and helped them continue their ruthless rule of the Afghan people. Meanwhile, there are still 13 grieving American families out there.
Although there are many stains on Joe Biden’s legacy, Afghanistan may go down in history as the worst.
We should be thrilled each and every day that Joe Biden is back home on the beach in Delaware and Kamala is wandering around somewhere in California.
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