U.S. Air National Guard members welcome Afghan evacuees in Kuwait
Often, the initial “news” coverage of a story is not the final word. Rather, events prove the original coverage wrong, and a strong counter-narrative develops and takes hold. For example, when the website to sign up for Affordable Care Act (ACA) healthcare coverage first went online in late 2013, it had technical problems for a short time. That’s not so unusual, given that the ACA and its website were (a) brand new, and (b) massive in scope. Nevertheless, the media, swayed by Republicans desperate to criticize President Barack Obama, went into a feeding frenzy, which not only covered all the problems with the new ACA website ad nauseam, but implied that the underlying ACA itself (and even Barack Obama’s presidency) therefore must be problematic, which was not the case. Thus, while the initial criticism was damaging to the ACA and President Obama, the website was soon fixed, millions of people signed up for healthcare coverage, and the popularity of this Obama cornerstone grew steadily and has remained high ever since.
Something similar now appears to be happening in Afghanistan. Many in the “news” media (in quotes because it’s more opinion than news) seem to be forgetting that it was Donald Trump who cozied up to the Taliban, first offering to invite them to the Camp David presidential retreat, then signing the agreement to let 5,000 of them out of prison and to pull U.S. troops out. Instead, the media, again fed by the same old dishonest Republican attacks, have been hammering President Joe Biden for the “calamity” and “disaster” of the Taliban taking over control of Afghanistan again, even though Biden had little or no room to prevent that outcome after the deal that Donald “The Art of the Deal” Trump struck. Moreover, it’s not just right wing media who are attacking President Biden. Here, for example, is CNN‘s Chief International Correspondent, Clarissa Ward, expressing feelings rather than investigating facts just a few days ago:
CNN’s @clarissaward in Kabul: “I'm sitting here for 12 hours in the airport, 8 hours on the airfield and I haven't seen a single US plane take off. How on Earth are you going to evacuate 50,000 people in the next two weeks? It just, it can’t happen.”
— Kate Sullivan (@KateSullivanDC) August 20, 2021
As can be seen after the jump, however, the pushback against these false narratives is beginning to take shape.
First, the Biden White House is doing a good job touting their successful evacuation of U.S. and allied personnel, Afghans who are eligible for Special Immigration Visas (SIVs), and other vulnerable people from Afghanistan. President Biden has answered reporters’ questions and has addressed the nation on his Afghanistan efforts, stating, for example, that the U.S. has achieved its goals in Afghanistan to “get those who attacked us on September 11th, 2001, and make sure al Qaeda could not use Afghanistan as a base from which to attack us again.” Biden also stated that he “inherited a deal that President Trump negotiated with the Taliban.” Additionally, Biden talked about the thousands of evacuations that are successfully taking place, with no U.S. casualties thus far.
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain has also provided updates on the historic U.S. evacuation efforts:
We evacuated 5700 people in the past 24 hours. The best military operation in the world is in charge. https://t.co/pTfaalv6YG
— Jeff Zients (@WHCOS) August 20, 2021
Likewise, White House Rapid Response Director Mike Gwin is taking part in this effort:
NEW: Between 3:00am and 3:00pm ET today, a total of approximately 10,900 people were evacuated from Kabul.
In total, the U.S.-led mission has facilitated the evacuation of 48,000 people since August 14.
— Mike Gwin (@MGwin46) August 23, 2021
The Biden team is thus practicing Messaging Maxim #1: Go On Offense.
This Biden White House offensive may indeed be working, as others are now reiterating Biden’s talking points. For example, here is MeidasTouch.com on Monday:
The U.S. has evacuated more than 48,000 people from Afghanistan since August 14th. This is the largest and most successful air evacuation in history!
Retweet to thank our brave armed forces!
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) August 24, 2021
Eric Boehlert of Press Run provided some more background:
context: during fall of Saigon, which press loved using as Afghanistan comparison, US evacuated 7k people
By weds, US will have evacuated 70k (!)) from Kabul
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) August 24, 2021
Even one Republican in Congress, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, recognized how the Afghanistan situation began:
Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger placed blame on the Trump admin for the unfolding crisis in Afghanistan, saying its 2020 agreement with the Taliban sowed the seeds for the United States' turbulent exit. https://t.co/qUJx9MgNAL
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 23, 2021
This pushback, based on facts, has even trickled down to some in the “news” media. Here, for example, was John Harwood from CNN yesterday:
Biden national security officials last week set goal of evacuating 5K-9K per day from Afghanistan
this morning, WH says 21,600 were flown out of Kabul in last 24 hours – 12,700 on US military flights, 8,900 on allied coalition flights
total evacuees in last 10 days: 58,700
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) August 24, 2021
MeidasTouch now suggests that the media “owe President Biden a massive apology” for getting it so wrong on Afghanistan:
Let's be clear: the biggest failure of the Afghanistan withdrawal has been the coverage by the media. They owe President Biden a massive apology for what is shaping up to be an incredibly successful effort. pic.twitter.com/b4a3R4pLkW
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) August 24, 2021
Although the false and overblown Afghanistan media narrative may be changing, we’re not holding our breath for such an apology to President Biden anytime soon.
Photo by The National Guard, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/sDqMEJ
