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The Republican Party’s leader in the Senate slammed Joe Biden‘s handling of the Chinese spy balloon hours before the State of the Union address, saying his ‘weak reaction’ was similar to the ‘haphazard’ departure from Afghanistan.
Sen. Mitch McConnell said it was just another piece of evidence that the country was not thriving, and cited a new poll showing only 13 percent of Americans thought the State of the Union was strong.
Biden has been dogged by questions about why he waited so long before ordering the spy balloon to be taken down.
McConnell hammered the point on Tuesday afternoon, asking why you would let it drift over the Aleutian Islands, Alaska and Canada, with their wide-open spaces, without shooting it out of the sky.
‘And wait to get into the Atlantic Ocean after surveying all of American territory to shoot it down,’ he continued during an appearance on Fox News.
Sen. Mitch McConnell slammed Joe Biden’s handling of the Chinese spy balloon, saying his ‘weak reaction’ was similar to the ‘haphazard’ departure from Afghanistan
Biden has faced days of questions about why he did not act sooner against the balloon
‘I mean, we have lots of questions … not only why did you not know this has happened in the past, but why did you deal with this the way you did?
‘I was looking at a survey this morning who said only 13 percent of the American people thought the State of the Union was strong.
‘This is the kind of weak reaction, coupled with things like withdrawing from Afghanistan, that haphazard way that we did that in 2021, that leave the American people with the impression that the country is not doing well.
‘Raging crime, open borders, inflation going through the roof.
‘No wonder only 13 percent of the American people think the state of our [union] is strong.’
When CBS News asked Americans to select an adjective to describe the state of the union, only 13 percent used the term ‘strong.’ Almost two thirds plumped for ‘divided’ and almost half said ‘declining.’
It is all a blow for Biden who campaigned on his reputation for experience and competence after the turmoil of the Trump years.
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But his first year in office saw his standing as an foreign policy expert undermined by the disastrous exit from Afghanistan.
When asked for a description of the state of the union, ‘divided,’ ‘declining,’ and ‘weak’ came well ahead of adjectives like ‘strong,’ prospering,’ and ‘united.
The final days of the withdrawal from Afghanistan were marked by chaotic scenes as Afghans thronged Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, desperate for safe passage
The Taliban seized control of the capital Kabul even before the US had finished its evacuation
A model of the path taken by the balloon suggests it originated in central China then entered continental United States airspace over Alaska and through Canada
After setting a timetable that had the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks as the withdrawal deadline, the emboldened Taliban swept through the country and seized Kabul before all US troops and citizens had been able to leave.
The result was chaos. Thousands of Afghans descended on Hamid Karzai International as they desperately tried to escape their brutal new rulers.
And it left American forces in the uneasy position of relying on their former foes to provide security for their withdrawal through the airport.
Disaster struck with an Islamic State suicide bomber made it through defenses before detonating his deadly payload at the airport, killing 13 American service members.
Now he is accused of dithering in his response to the Chinese spy balloon, letting it cross the country before taking action only once it was off the coast of South Carolina.
His State of the Union address will give him the chance to lay out his achievements.
‘That’s what you’d expect him to do and the American people will get to decide in 2024 once we know what the choice is, which direction they want to take,’ said McConnell.
