Thiessen: Biden 'has a long history of foreign policy missteps'
Former White House speechwriter Marc Thiessen discusses President Biden's legacy on ‘America Reports.’
President Biden continues to surround himself with "sycophants" in a way that is the complete opposite of healthy administrations where debate and opposing views are a hallmark of good policy, former George W. Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen said Thursday.
Thiessen told "The Story" Biden himself claimed in an ABC News interview with former Clinton White House communications director George Stephanopoulos that he received no pushback from his closest advisers on his Afghanistan withdrawal strategy that has resulted in an intensifying disaster on the ground.
Thiessen said Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken must resign over the international crisis they have caused.
"Blinken should go. Joe Biden should go quite frankly because this is disqualifying. The reality is that Joe Biden has surrounded himself instead of a team of rivals, he surrounded himself with sycophants, who enable all of his worst instincts," he said.
"It's not just Tony Blinken. Look at that interview that Biden did with George Stephanopoulos. He said nobody pushed back. If that is true, then that is an indictment of his entire national security team."
Thiessen compared Biden's White House to previous administrations including Donald Trump's. The former president, the Fox News contributor noted, routinely solicited advice from people he knew might offer critical or opposing views, like Bush-era diplomat John Bolton or U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis.
"Jim Mattis put his stars on the table and resigned when Donald Trump wanted to pull troops out of Afghanistan. Where is Lloyd Austin or General Milley?" Thiessen asked. "How come nobody said, 'You can't do this'? This is a disaster."
Thiessen claimed Defense Secretary Austin, a retired Army general and former Raytheon board member, as well as Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Milley didn't push back enough against Biden.
"Nobody has stood up to this president's worst instincts. When Donald Trump was president, everybody celebrated the adults in the room. Trump hired people that disagreed with him," he added. "Sometimes he listened to them, sometimes he didn't. At least he got people that pushed back."
Host Martha MacCallum went on to play a clip of the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., warning about Blinken and describing him as inept and unqualified for a chief diplomatic role.
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"Blinken is not only unqualified but in my view one of the worst selections that -- of a very bad lot that this president has chosen. Mr. Blinken said 'we've been very clear, the war will be concluded by the end of 2014: We have a timetable and that timetable will not change," McCain said in 2014 on the Senate floor, speaking in opposition to Blinken's nomination by President Obama to become deputy secretary of state.
Thiessen agreed with McCain, saying that Blinken orchestrated the oft-criticized Iraq withdrawal strategy and claiming he would repeat it in Afghanistan.
"John McCain said that he was unqualified because he had terrible judgment and that if we did what we did in Afghanistan what we did in Iraq, there would be a disaster," he said. "Flash forward seven years. Joe Biden is president. Tony Blinken is secretary of state and John McCain is right."
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