Politicians in SC tell Biden to resign — or work with Trump — after Kabul airport bombing
In the aftermath of a terrorist attack at Kabul, Afghanistan’s airport that killed 13 Americans on Thursday, several Grand Strand poiticians, including several seeking South Carolina’s 7th Congressional seat, called on President Joe Biden to resign.
Another local politician called on Biden to appoint former President Donald Trump to a position where he could oversee the rest of America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
South Carolina Congressman Tom Rice (R-Myrtle Beach) called on President Joe Biden to resign over his “haphazard withdrawal” from Afghanistan that he blamed for the terrorist attack in Kabul.
“The news out of Kabul is devastating,” Rice said in a statement. “Well Joe, you’ve proven yourself incapable of handling your job as Commander in Chief. You ignored your advisors, rushed this haphazard withdrawal without appropriate conditions and before evacuating our citizens and friends. Your ineptitude has now cost at least 12 American lives.”
Rice criticized Biden’s lack of communication on the quickly changing environment in Afghanistan.
“All options are on the table to hold President Biden accountable for this tragic chain of avoidable events. President Biden, you yourself said ‘The Buck stops here.’ Do the American people a favor. Resign and turn the job over to someone who can handle it,” Rice said in the statement. “My prayers continue to be with the injured, our troops, and all those in harm’s way.”
In an interview with The Sun News Thursday, Rice said he recognized that Biden resigning would mean Vice President Kamala Harris would become the president, a result that he said would be “terrible” for the country. But, Rice added, he was concerned that Biden was ignoring the advice of his military and pursuing a bad plan with regard to Afghanistan.
“Joe Biden said that they had a strategy and they had considered all contingencies on withdrawing from Afghanistan, and I’ve heard repeatedly from various members of his administration that they warned him about a potential catastrophe,” Rice said. “And in the face of all this he’s done it in a manner that if there was a strategy, I cannot discern what it was.”
Rice added: “I have no faith in him that after two sets of his strategies, and the horrific results that have occurred, that I have no faith that he has the ability to continue this operation. He needs somebody who can who can protect the people that are there and get them the heck out of there and do it safety. This has been a gigantic mistake from the moment he started.”
Graham Allen, a right-wing TV and radio personality from Anderson who is running to unseat Rice, joined the call for Biden’s removal.
“I AM CALLING ON BIDEN TO RESIGN IMMEDIATELY AND DEMANDING MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO DEMAND THE SAME!!!” Graham said in a statement Thursday.
“Our singular focus MUST BE to get our people our allies, and our troops out BY WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY,” he added.
Graham issued his statement largely in capital letters emphasizing his rejection of the president’s actions.
South Carolina Rep. Russell Fry (R-Surfside Beach) also issued a statement Thursday, but stopped short of calling on Biden to resign. Rather, he said, Biden should appoint Trump to oversee the rest of America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“For the sake of our countrymen in harm’s way, it’s time for Biden to live up to his own words of bipartisanship and turn to trusted hands who know how to get the job done,” Fry wrote in a statement he posted on Facebook and shared with The Sun News. “I call on Joe Biden to set aside political differences and, in a spirit of true bipartisan cooperation, appoint Donald J. Trump as his special envoy to oversee the Afghanistan withdrawal.”
“During this crisis, Biden must use every resource available to get our people home,” Fry added.
Jeanette Spurlock, another candidate for the 7th Congressional seat, called for Biden’s impeachment regarding his handling of Afghanistan earlier this week.
“We must immediately file articles of impeachment against Joe Biden and those that worked in unison with him on this horrific disaster of a pull out,” she wrote in a Facebook post on Aug. 24.
Biden has been criticized for his handling of the removal of American soldiers and citizens as well as U.S. allies from Afghanistan as he seeks to end the nation’s longest war. The withdrawal led to a much earlier than expected collapse of the Afghan government to the Taliban and in recent days has seen chaos at Kabul’s airport as thousands of people try to flee the country.
That chaos culminated Thursday in a suicide-bombing attack near the airport that killed 13 American soldiers and wounded 15 others. U.S. officials warned that such an attack might be imminent earlier in the day. At least 60 Afghans were killed as well.
Rice on Thursday was the second S.C. politician to suggest Biden’s time in office should end over the situation in Afghanistan. Tuesday night, in an interview with Newsmax, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said he supported the president’s impeachment.
“This is the most dishonorable thing the commander-in-chief has done maybe in modern times,” Graham said. “Joe Biden, for political reasons, wanted to pull all of our troops out because of the polling numbers, and what has he done? He’s created the conditions for another 9/11, he’s abandoned thousands of people who honorably and bravely fought along with us.”
Impeachment isn’t likely, however, as Democrats control both houses of Congress. Graham voted against both of former President Donald Trump’s impeachments, and Rice voted in favor of the second one earlier this year.
Biden has been attacked for the way in which he pulled troops from Afghanistan, but it was a process set in motion by Trump. The Taliban has also issued repeated threats warning of “consequences” should the U.S. delay it’s withdrawal past Aug. 31.
This story was originally published August 26, 2021 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Politicians in SC tell Biden to resign — or work with Trump — after Kabul airport bombing."
