Now that 30,000 people—and counting—have been evacuated from Afghanistan, I would like the elite political media, especially its cable TV news divisions, to tell me what the magic number is that will change the prevailing narrative. 40,000? 100,000? Everybody in that country except the leaders of the Taliban? All of southwest Asia? Let me know so I can stop telling people what a Benghazi-sized dog’s breakfast you all are making out of this story. It would be very helpful.
And now the “story” is that the president’s poll numbers have fallen? Will o’God, they haven’t learned anything since their forebears got lost along the White River in Arkansas years ago. Between the apparently impervious storyline of an Afghan catastrophe and the deliberate monkey-wrenching of the Covid response by Republican governors, Republican state legislatures, and the wilder elements of the Horse Pill marketing complex, it’s a wonder that people aren’t walking past the White House with strings of garlic around their necks. Instead, this president’s approval rating is still higher than the best number the former president* ever racked up.
