“Can anyone even imagine taking out our Military before evacuating civilians and others who have been good to our Country and who should be allowed to seek refuge?”
Donald Trump 8-17-21
Trump has used the current Afghan debacle to jump on Biden as Biden’s first real setback as president. Ever the opportunist, Trump has assured us that none of this would have happened under him. He assures us that he would have had Afghani citizens, refugees that helped us, out of the country first.
That is a lie. It had been a gradual process under previous presidents, until Trump, at which point the doors virtually shut.
The fact that many Afghani interpreters and guides are left stranded precisely because of Trump and, the guy who is always lurking every time we talk about moving brown people into the United States, Stephen Miller. Miller and Trump purposefully near-shut down the Afghani visa process for four years, making it almost impossible for Afghanis who had been promised refuge in the United States (and long before a pullout).
Do not take our word for it, read the story from someone who was there throughout the process. The interview is from Maddow’s show and then tweet thread sets out the process:
"For four years, this administration under Trump, they did nothing and they decimated the process, they destroyed it. And it was very challenging for those of us working on these issues to really push the needle forward or get anything done." -Olivia Troye @OliviaofTroye [1] pic.twitter.com/cKnjQdEtKw [2]
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) August 21, 2021 [3]
🧵There were cabinet mtgs about this during the Trump Admin where Stephen Miller would peddle his racist hysteria about Iraq & Afghanistan. He & his enablers across gov’t would undermine anyone who worked on solving the SIV issue by devastating the system at DHS & State.(1/7) pic.twitter.com/vtNWaasCK7 [4]
— Olivia of Troye (@OliviaTroye) August 20, 2021 [5]
I met w/ numerous external organizations during my White House tenure who advocated for refugees & pleaded for help in getting US allies through the process. I got the phone calls & letters as the homeland security & CT advisor to Pence…(3/7)
— Olivia of Troye (@OliviaTroye) August 20, 2021 [6]
The fear of people across the Trump Admin to counter these enablers was palpable. There were numerous behind closed door meetings held-strategizing how to navigate this issue. The Trump Admin had FOUR years…(5/7)
— Olivia of Troye (@OliviaTroye) August 20, 2021 [7]
To people like Ben Domenech, JD Vance & others who are making blanket statements & pushing narratives of convenience on Afganistan-especially on the SIV/allies issue-please, just stop. Your comments are uninformed & also hurtful. We see right through you.(7/8)
— Olivia of Troye (@OliviaTroye) August 20, 2021 [8]
The fear of people across the Trump Admin to counter these enablers was palpable. There were numerous behind closed door meetings held-strategizing how to navigate this issue. The Trump Admin had FOUR years…(5/7)
— Olivia of Troye (@OliviaTroye) August 20, 2021 [7]
Each and every word of the above rings true and it is infuriating Twitter, where “Stephen Miller” is trending right now and it is directly because of the above tweet thread. We are surprised it took a full week for the truth to come out. Trump has spent the entire week saying “None of this would have happened under me.” To a great extent, he is correct. He wouldn’t be making any effort to get Afghanis out. He would be making some vague promises about “applying through the State Department” (by mail?) and all. But the fate of brown Muslims wouldn’t be part of the thought process, at all.
Did we mention rage?
This is case closed for me. We are where we are in Afghanistan because of Trump's surrender to the Taliban and his administration's venal attitude toward Muslim and really all nonwhite immigrants. The media should track down Stephen Miller, Pompeo, Trump & his secdefs and query. https://t.co/ZpefgMR5tL [9]
— Nope. (@JoyAnnReid) August 21, 2021 [10]
For 4 years, Stephen Miller sabotaged efforts to expedite Special Immigration Visas for Afghanis who helped Americans and now they're stranded and desperate.
Asking anyone, is there anyway to punish this guy?#maddow [11] pic.twitter.com/P2upbr30t0 [12]— Bill Wong (@ten24get) August 21, 2021 [13]
https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/1429070115040120836
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jmiciakyahoo.com and on Twitter @JasonMiciak