Without minimizing the import of our Afghanistan withdrawal, Jim Acosta manages to put into perspective the journalistic malpractice taking place at Fox "News," where lying, Biden blame, and xenophobic fear-mongering are the first orders of business. Don't get me wrong, mainstream media is in a breathless tizzy, too, doing its own version of placing a disproportionate amount of blame on Pres. Joe Biden, but Acosta's focus is the previous administration and the folks at Fox and other right-wing media outlets.
He does his homework, bringing all the receipts (or reels, in this case) to back him up, playing clips from everyone in the previous administration insisting withdrawing from Afghanistan was imperative, imminent, and in our control, then berating the Biden administration for what it is deeming its disastrous "decision" to do exactly what they say they wanted to do.
First we have Mike Pompeo bragging that he's made a deal with the Taliban, then turning around and chiding Speaker Nancy Pelosi for admitting we're talking to the Taliban in carrying out the withdrawal. Next, Acosta plays clips of Trump praising the Taliban — praising them — saying he trusts them to do what they say, and that they'll kill "very bad people." How proud he is of negotiating the May withdrawal, and how he tied Biden's hands to the process he set in motion. Acosta showed video of Trump sycophants insisting a withdrawal would be smooth, and surely not result in a speedy Taliban takeover.
Acosta saved his truest and deadliest aim, though, for Fox "News" and right-wing media people. He mocked Sean Hannity's hawking My Pillow in the same breath he was purporting to sympathize with Americans trying to get to the airport in Kabul. He inverted images to expose Laura Ingraham's disgusting racism and xenophobia towards Afghans who risked their lives helping Americans survive. He introduced Tucker Carlson's Hitlerian fear-mongering about being "invaded" by refugees (whom, for the record, we helped create) by creating yet another moniker for him: "Fox's Ayatollah of Paranoia."
It was his answer to Steve Cortes' vile NIMBY bullsh*t, though, that provided the lowest point from which Acosta chose to launch us up and out of that disgusting pit back to the high road of where our hearts should truly be.
Or as another pro-Trump propagandist put it, raise your hand if you want this plane landing in your town.
I can think of somebody raising her hand. Anybody ever heard the line give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free?
America has a long and proud history of welcoming refugees from war- torn countries. The Statue of Liberty has always symbolized that beacon of hope to the world. That has always been the American way.
Yes, there are Afghans who did come to our aid in Afghanistan. They did help us fight the war against Osama bin Laden. Yes, some, in fact, did fight for their country and died for their country.
We can't leave them behind. The images out of Afghanistan are hard to look at. There's no question about it. Perhaps that's to be expected when you try to end what's been called the forever war. But if we want to end that forever war, if we really want to get home from Afghanistan, I know one light showing us the way.
A+, Jim Acosta.
