Chuck Todd: Biden's Credibility Has Taken Major Hit...

Chuck Todd Turns Biden Critic, Says Credibility Has Taken Major Hit

September 19, 2021 21,809


AP Photo/Evan Vucci

OPINION: This article contains commentary which reflects the author's opinion

Left-leaning Washington journalist and “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd had some rare criticism for Joe Biden on Sunday as he assessed several events that took place last week he says is damaging to the president’s “credibility.”
Appearing on his network, colleague Willie Geist ticked off a number of things that have bedeviled Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris over the past several days:
— After initially claiming that a late August drone strike in Afghanistan killed an ISIS-K member planning a suicide bombing similar to one that took out 13 U.S. military members a few days earlier along with 160-plus Afghanis, the Pentagon had to walk it back and admit, after a New York Times report, that its drone had targeted the wrong man. Not only was he killed, but so were seven children.

— The Biden administration expected to announce new COVID-19 booster vaccines from Pfizer, but an advisory board to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised against it, citing safety concerns. The board only recommends the boosters for people 65 years and older or those at greater risk of dying from the virus.
— The border crisis turned worse this week when more than 15,000 mostly Haitian migrants crossed illegally into the U.S. and set up camp underneath an international bridge near Del Rio, Texas. After several Republican lawmakers and Fox News made light of the issue, the Biden administration said it would restart repatriation flights back to Haiti after canceling them earlier this month. This, after the administration said that the border was “closed” and that the situation was under control.
— The French government recalled its ambassador to the U.S. for the first time in history after Biden entered a nuclear submarine-building agreement with the UK and Australia; France and the Aussies had already agreed in principle to a $90 billion contract to build six French-designed subs and the new deal cut Paris out altogether.
All of these issues have combined to throw Biden’s White House into disarray and put the president’s credibility in doubt, as well as that of the U.S. in general, Todd told Geist.
“I think he’s got a pretty big credibility crisis on his hands,” Todd said, noting that it’s not just accusations coming from Republicans that put things in doubt for Biden.
“All of these problems, in some ways, showed up after he said something, basically, the exact opposite,” Todd said. “Afghanistan withdrawal: It wasn’t going to be messy. It was going to look like Saigon.
“The booster shots, he came out and essentially said at eight months and maybe we should start it as soon as five months. Now, we’re not sure that anybody younger than 65 is going to get a booster shot.”
He went on to say that Biden can’t credibly blame what is taking place along the southwest border on his predecessor, Donald Trump.
“We can talk about the border problems,” he continued. “You could say they’re years in the making, but it’s pretty clear we have a bigger problem now than we’ve had in years. And these policies have turned into becoming a magnet.”
Todd noted that Biden has an address coming up this week to the United Nations, and “his credibility on the world stage” is on the line as well.
Biden will need to show the world the U.S. “is not just a stable government,” but the president himself can be “a competent leader of the free world right now.”
“He’s got a lot of work to do,” Todd said, noting further that the “next months are still going to be tough for him politically because he’s got to get this big bill through Congress,” a reference to the gargantuan $3.5 trillion spending plan Democrats want to pass via the reconciliation process.
“If that thing is passed, I think he can start to take a few breaths here for a bit, but he’s going a lot on the line here in the next month,” Todd concluded. “That’s for sure.”

Chuck Todd Turns Biden Critic, Says Credibility Has Taken Major Hit - Conservative Brief