The United States continues to mourn more than 100 Afghans and at least 13 U.S. service members who died after a terrorist bombing near the Kabul International Airport, where thousands were gathered in a frantic effort to escape the region after the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan amid the withdrawal of U.S. troops by August 31.
President Joe Biden—whose execution of the withdrawal from the 20 year war has been criticized as chaotic and damaging—answered questions from the White House Press Corps shortly after the attack. He took responsibility for the miscalculations that led to the botched withdrawal and vowed to find the perpetrators, promising they would pay.
A panel at the conservative Fox News network reacted to the press conference, with anchor Bill Hemmer being especially critical.
Watch below.
Fox's Bill Hemmer: "When [Biden] goes to the Q&A, he sounded soft & timid. Everyone looked and sounded defeated..."\n\nChris Wallace: "Well, if you aren\u2019t down on a day like yesterday when you have 13 American troops killed, something is wrong with you."pic.twitter.com/VGFrsaRou7— Justin Baragona (@Justin Baragona) 1630076950
Hemmer said:
"I thought off the teleprompter, he made two great points, but when he goes to the Q&A, he just sounded soft and timid, and the sense I had is that everyone looked and sounded defeated, including the White House Press Corps, [Fox News White House Correspondent] Peter Doocy notwithstanding. That whole room, and perhaps it was appropriate for the moment, was just down."
Veteran journalist and anchor Chris Wallace gently put Hemmer's critique into perspective:
"Well, if you aren't down on a day like yesterday when you have 13 American troops killed, something is wrong with you."
Wallace went on to recall the murders of more than 200 Marines in Lebanon during the Reagan administration a year before Reagan won reelection in 1984, disputing the conservative claim that the tragedy in Afghanistan will be the undoing of the Biden adminstration.
Social media users appreciated Wallace's retort.
It\u2019s always interesting when Chris Wallace schools dumb ass fools like @BillHemmer and @DanaPerinohttps://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1431272584818184193\u00a0\u2026— G. (@G.) 1630080416
Fox News is a Chris Wallace away from being Newsmax.— Chase (@Chase) 1630077170
Thank you, Chris Wallace. Most decent Americans are not relishing the moment to leverage the tragedy for political purposes.— Dave Marler (@Dave Marler) 1630077530
Hemmer's reception was not as kind.
Biden was upset that 12 soldiers just died. Bill is a scumbag— California Crypto \u24c2\ufe0f (@California Crypto \u24c2\ufe0f) 1630077716
They\u2019re so used to normalizing and parroting a sociopath named don trump that emotions seem alien to them.— Pleasant Villain, USA (@Pleasant Villain, USA) 1630083281
Hemmer is such a total douche. He went from hard news to a disgusting pusher of propaganda. It is gross what happened to him— Cracker Vax (@Cracker Vax) 1630077362
People are divided on Biden's response in the presser.
Someone smart said to me this morning, I dont think the media knows how to cover Biden. \nWatching this press conference - sober, fact-based, not inflammatory, brimming w real not fake emotion - is a test of whether we have recovered from the normalized insanity of TFG.— Nina Burleigh (@Nina Burleigh) 1630014210
I have been as charitable to Biden as just about anyone during the collapse of Afghanistan. I have refrained from blaming him for problems that were many years in the making.\n\nThis may be the single worst presidential speech/press conference I\u2019ve ever seen.— Michael Knowles (@Michael Knowles) 1630014550
An e-mail from a young friend (time-stamped 3:32 am!) asks "Are you done with Biden forever?"\n\nNo. I very much want a successful Biden administration. But that means honest criticism when necessary. It does the administration no favor to pretend all is well when it isn't.— Bill Kristol (@Bill Kristol) 1629552790
In a daily White House briefing, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said State Department officials have determined another attempted attack on the airport is likely.
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