Trump: US must have 'respected' president, claims Biden 'isn't calling the shots'
Biden briefly visited Washington Monday, then returned to Camp David, before arriving back to Fort McNair later Tuesday
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former President Donald Trump claimed Tuesday in a "Hannity" interview that President Biden would have likely stayed at Camp David as the Afghanistan crisis intensified, had it not been for the mainstream media pivoting to negative coverage of his administration on the matter.
During the interview, Trump reacted to news from Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who told "Hannity" moments earlier that hundreds of Americans trapped behind Taliban checkpoints in Afghanistan are trying to gain clearance and have contacted his office in hopes of finding a way to get home.
Unfortunately, the senator had said, the Biden State Department simply instructed those concerned Americans to log onto the internet, complete a form, and wait for either a text message or phone call.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"[Cotton] said that people are being told to go to a website. ‘Don't call anymore, go to a website’ like please come and tell me we have a better plan than that," Hannity told Trump.
Trump condemned the report from Cotton, adding that the only reason Biden returned to the White House was because of harsh media criticism:
"[H]e only returned because he was getting terrible press. Not for any other reason," Trump claimed.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On Monday, Biden briefly returned to Washington to offer remarks about the Afghan situation, but then returned northwest to the Frederick County compound.
"I don't even believe that he is calling the shots," Trump said of Biden. "What you need more than anything is a president that is respected, and you need a president that got rid of ISIS and got 100% got rid of ISIS."
Appearing to refer to a comment made by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, on "Special Report" earlier Tuesday, Trump disputed the Kentuckian's claim that Afghanistan wasn't costing the Pentagon or the American taxpayer as much as advertised.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}McConnell had claimed the Pentagon was spending about 1% of its budget "keeping the lid on" Afghanistan and its insurgent groups, while Trump claimed it was much more than that in reality.
"I understand Russia spends $50 billion a year for their entire military. We were spending $42 billion: Not 1%. They were saying 1%. That's a lot of nonsense," Trump said.
"$42 billion a year on defending this for years and years… and we get nothing out of any of these things that we do, whether it is them or many other countries."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He added that there are military brass including "generals" on the homefront that don't deserve their posts. Trump however clarified that the bravest of those enlisted continue to be the ones deployed overseas.
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Regarding China, Trump said the Xi regime now sees Biden and the United States as weak.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I think bad things will happen in respect to Taiwan because they don't respect our leadership and they no longer respect our country," he said. "And that's a really bad thing. China does not respect us any longer."