Commentary

When the party in power says so. 

On December 18, 2019, by a majority vote, the House of Representatives used their power to impeach President Trump for soliciting Ukrainian interference in the 2020 presidential election.

During a July 15, 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky, President Trump supposedly sought his help in digging up dirt on Joe Biden, at the time a potential 2020 opponent.

The leftist media tried to paint a picture of Trump being worried about having to face Biden in 2020.  However, I saw it as Trump covering his bases. He certainly wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to make Biden look bad in defense of his son Hunter.  Biden wasn’t even a candidate and wouldn’t enter the race until April 2020, nine months later.

In that call, Trump mentioned Biden’s bragging that he stopped the prosecution of Viktor Shokin, “if you can look into it … it sounds horrible to me,” Trump asked.

Biden’s boastful statement about his role in getting Shokin fired during a 2018 speech before the Council on Foreign Relations appeared frequently on television. Biden said he withheld $1 billion in loan guarantees for Ukraine in order to force the government to address the problem with its top prosecutor:

“I looked at them and said, (looking at his watch) ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.  Well, son of a bitch.  He got fired.’”

Like most of Biden’s statements, this wasn’t seen as untoward, but merely braggadocio, Joe being Joe.

But Trump was dragged through an impeachment for his phone call, only to be acquitted by the Senate.

Now we have another phone call from President Joe Biden to the Afghanistan President Ghani, in which he clearly seeks his help in changing the perception that things weren’t going well in the fight against the Taliban.  Biden explained the need to change the perception in terms of how our allies and folks here in the states and other places think we’re doing.  In other words, lie.

With that call being placed on July 23, 2021, Biden was obviously aware of Taliban advances.  In fact, it was on July 13, 2021 that 23 U. S. Embassy staffers cabled concern over districts lost to Taliban control. Meanwhile, most Americans there were still unaware of the pending need to evacuate.

During Biden’s interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on August 18, 2021, he was reminded of his July statement that he saw a Taliban takeover as highly unlikely, and claimed his intelligence briefers saw that more likely at the end of the year.  The Taliban took Kabul on August 15, 2021.

So, there you have it.  The tale of two phone calls.

I don’t see Nancy Pelosi approving impeachment proceedings against Biden, although his effort to cover up his poor leadership by encouraging an ally to lie about conditions at hand is more offensive than the flaky charge against Trump for digging for dirt on an opponent. She’s already blocking testimony on the withdrawal.

Biden will attempt to cover up his dereliction of duty. The narrative will move to building back better, climate change, racism and social justice, and to mask-up.  He will visit with those who suffered losses to Hurricane Ida and his speechwriters are already framing his 9/11 speech, with the hope Afghanistan can be put in the rearview mirror. MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” has already publicly stated that he hopes it would fade away before the midterms 

That’s assuming those generals, national security advisors and those in the intelligence community are willing to forget being thrown under the bus.  There will be leaks, like the phone call transcript to Reuters.  Shame on those who put party and the bureaucracy before the truth.

And don’t think those stories from Gold Star families will be forgotten, as well as the tales of former troopers and groups who secretly worked to bring Americans and allies out when our state department proved inept.

Let’s not forget, as long as there are Americans in Afghanistan, and there are, including those journalists placed there by the state department, charged with messaging upbeat news.

I ask each of you to keep the memory of those 13 service members alive, who didn’t have to die.

CORRECTION – I often consult timelines on events in an effort to give you a clearer picture of how and when things took place.  As a result, my research notes are filled with highlighted dates and dates in margins.  In my September 1, 2021 post, I incorrectly noted that President Biden’s revealing telephone call with Afghan President Ghani took place “a few days after” his interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, when it actually occurred the previous month.  I apologize for misleading you, even though I didn’t intend to do so.

Now, more than ever … may God continue to bless the United States of America.