Trump: Biden’s Afghanistan Pullout Made Putin Think He Could Take Ukraine

Former President Donald Trump cast blame for the current state of global affairs on President Joe Biden Saturday night, arguing at a Michigan rally that his successor’s handling of domestic affairs and the withdrawal from Afghanistan created the conditions for the problems plaguing the world.

The 45th commander-in-chief, who held the rally in Washington Township, Mich., as part of his “Save America” tour, began by reiterating his unproven claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election before taking aim at Democrats more directly. After slamming Biden’s approach to economic and social issues, Trump argued that his successor’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan gave way for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine.

“I think that when he saw what happened in Afghanistan, the way we ran,” Trump said of Putin’s point of view during last August’s deadly military withdrawal from the Middle Eastern country. “We didn’t to have one soldier killed there in 18 months. I said, ‘Abdul [Ghani Baradar — the de facto Taliban leader], there are going to be no more of our soldiers killed.’ Not one person was killed for 18 months and Biden even said that. Then we lost thirteen, but they don’t talk about how horribly so many of them were wounded. This invasion of Ukraine would never have happened if I was in the White House, would never have happened, not ever.”

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Trump continued by touting the candidates he was there to stump for — Matt DePerno for attorney general and Kristina Karamo for secretary of state — as well as Republicans working to return Capitol Hill to Republicans ahead of this year’s midterms, while bemoaning the state of the nation under Democratic leadership.

“The stakes of this year’s midterm election could not be higher,” he told the crowd. “I don’t know of a time we’ve ever felt so low, so dejected. And we have a president who has no idea what’s going on. The choice this November is very simple: if you want high crime, high prices, high taxes, high corruption and high incompetence, vote for radical Democrats. If you want a country that is strong, sovereign, solvent, safe and secure, you must vote for America-first Republicans.”

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Taking aim at Biden more personally, Trump also mocked the 46th president’s penchant for gaffes, asking if those in the crowd had ever seen “Biden go, ‘It’s great to be with the people of Michigan,'” before pretending to correct him about being “in Ohio.” The joke was meant to imply that Biden often does not know where he is.

“How about how he makes a press conference and they always have like four corrections,” Trump said before raising his voice to pretend to be a Biden administration official backtracking on one of the president’s unscripted remarks. “Actually, it’s very insulting though, you know, you’re the president. Half of them didn’t have a job a year and a half ago and they’re correcting everything he says. Actually, they’d be better off if they just left it. It would probably be better, let the mistakes stand.”

As for whether he’ll challenge his 2020 foe in 2024, Trump declined to make any official statement. He did, however, enjoy teasing the crowd about the idea, asking, “Would anybody like to see me run?” to cheers.