Conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin cited the saber-rattling from Republicans who are now trying to argue for staying in Afghanistan.
H.R. McMaster spoke to MSNBC Thursday morning using the bombings near the Kabul airport to justify his argument that withdrawal is bad. He went on to tell Fox News that things will get much worse.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) similarly made a case to MSNBC that the U.S. should reestablish Bagram Air Base and keep a presence in Afghanistan until further notice.
"On foreign policy, some Republicans, in search of a way to deflect blame from their cult leader who cut a surrender agreement with the Taliban and drew down troops to 2,500, would now have voters believe it was all a ruse," Rubin wrote. "Sure, they argue, Donald Trump ran on ending the war, but that was a lie. This is their excuse? That he was going to continue the forever war he ran against?"
She noted that the right-wing is already pushing an anti-refugee position, saying that the last thing Americans should do is welcome the translators and allies who worked with the U.S. military while on the ground.
"The GOP message boils down to: Stay forever, and if not, don't take Afghans with us," wrote Rubin. "Most voters want out and want to take as many Afghan allies as possible. In fact, they think the Biden team is not doing enough to evacuate Afghans."
She argued that the whole "America First" message has become a muddled mess of indecipherable slogans or policies that are more about their opposition to everything than about standing for anything.
They voted against the American Rescue Plan, they're opposing the human infrastructure package. They refused to allow the IRS to be fully funded so they could sue the ultra-wealthy for refusing to pay their taxes. They opposed extending Medicare to cover vision, hearing and dental. But worst of all, Rubin said, Republicans are against wearing masks to protect against COVID-19 and they're in stark opposition to vaccine mandates.
She urged Democrats to start running their campaigns now, because the GOP has become "the party in favor of grossly unpopular things."
"If Democrats have bragging rights on the economy and pandemic, their best hope for retaining the majority would be to paint a vivid portrait of what Republicans would do if they held power: continue an endless war, throw desperate refugees to the wolves, overturn elections, nix everything from the child tax credit to dental coverage for seniors and make Florida and Texas the model for covid-19 policy. Is that what voters really want?" she closed.
