'The Five': Biden doesn't understand tone and tenor of US vets
Panel discusses Biden's sinking approval ratings over botched Afghanistan pullout
Retired Marine Corps bomb technician Johnny Joey Jones, who lost both legs fighting in Afghanistan, said Friday on "The Five" that President Joe Biden's continued failure to lead as commander-in-chief leaves veterans wondering if they were betrayed, while the Delaware Democrat appears to blame everyone but himself for his failures.
"It's not about blaming Biden for the crisis. We can talk about that. It's about being a leader," Jones said. "Strong leaders make bad decisions. Every good leader makes a bad decision… but they lead through it."
As a leader, President Biden cowers. He blames Afghans, he blames Trump and he blames his own generals – He says the 'buck stops with me', I took the consensus decision – You know how you pivot right out of that. You don't look like a strong leader."
Jones said Biden "yelled his way" through a "victory speech" – which was not helpful in trying to convince the American people he understands the gravity of the situation:
"It's not just the fact that we pulled out of Afghanistan. It's not just the fact that we have a 20-year war that we get to claim failure on. It's the posture," he said, adding that some of Biden's top military brass also deserve scrutiny for both their decisionmaking and their statements as of late:
"You have a Marine general sit there and say the Taliban are our partners," he said of CENTCOM Commander Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie Jr.
"You have the entire administration almost saying one thing and doing another – then you have about 22 million veterans that go ‘Wow. Were we betrayed? What happened here?’ -- You have to understand the tone and tenor of the men and women that fought this war in order to end it. [Biden] doesn't."
Former Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., added to Jones' remarks, saying that the Afghanistan crisis has successfully filtered through the left-wing media to the American people because, unlike coronavirus, the border crisis or economic inflation, the populace has been cognizant of what was a 20-year-long war.
"In Afghanistan… the media had to report the story. So as they report it, they see it's an utter failure. 13 service members died, they see billions left in our equipment. To Joey's point, we look at leadership. You want leaders to change course with the facts on the ground," he said.
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