Thread by @AndrewCFollett

[Sigh] This is also full of nonsense, in classic John Oliver fashion.

So, let's take a look at just how wrong this is on #OliverDebunked

https://twitter.com/LastWeekTonight/status/1559185942820315136

Oliver opens fairly strongly by pointing out what a huge disaster the withdrawal was... until about 2:00 when he quotes Gen. Milley claiming that everyone got Afghanistan wrong.

I don't make intel assessments, but I was right about this

https://twitter.com/AndrewCFollett/status/1554244525551505413?s=20&t=eh7ToXLOPjaZzF_msd9XNQ

The reality is every intel agency told Biden what would happen. He denied it.

And it then happened exactly as the intel agencies predicted. And it happened on Biden's watch.

At 2:45 Oliver claims that Trump was the one who wanted to pull out and that Biden was just following his deal.

That's...extremely dumb.

No Americans died in Afghanistan for a year before Biden became POTUS. 13 died in a day when he surrendered.

Again, Biden's express reasoning for leaving was that al Qaeda had left Afghanistan.

Al Qaeda's leader was recently killed in...Kabul Afghanistan.

Oliver at 4:00 notes...correctly...that Afghanistan is "in dire crisis."

Still no mention of President Biden...but lots of blaming President Trump.

Didn't Biden say something about never blaming others?

Again, Oliver's talking point is "Well, Trump wanted to leave."

Trump wasn't in charge when this went down.

Trump also didn’t chair foreign relations when war was authorized and serve until becoming VP in an admin that expanded the war.

That was Biden

Trump didn't force Biden to say..."Taliban is not the North Vietnamese army. They’re not remotely comparable in terms of capability. There’s going 2 be no circumstance where u see people being lifted off the roof of embassy of the US from Afghanistan" a month b4 that happened

Yah, Biden said that a month before EXACTLY THAT HAPPENED.

whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…

AT 4:16 Oliver claims that the Taliban "tried to convey a slightly softer image to journalists" in hopes of getting legitimacy.

No John...that was Biden's team...wish-casting that the Taliban wanted that.

Remember, Joe Biden was literally ON VACATION when he gave up 20 years worth of American blood and treasure without a peep.

At 9:00 Oliver takes shots at...Ron DeSantis...as a person who "you don't want leading a government" in a way that'd make @ChristinaPushaw laugh and his deranged audience applaud.

Again, NOT ONE MENTION of Biden being in charge for the fall of Kabul or the entire last year.

Oliver then spends four minutes attacking the world and the US for...not giving aid to the Taliban and freezing their assets...because people in Afghanistan are suffering.

GOSH JOHN, MAYBE WE SHOULDN'T HAVE FLED LIKE BIDEN WANTED?

Like...yes...I understand that things under the Taliban suck...but that's A GOOD REASON NOT TO SURRENDER TO THEM JOHN!

Finally, after 14 minutes and 10 seconds...Oliver puts a picture of President Biden on screen and says he's been "alarming blithe" about the situation in Afghanistan.

Again, Biden literally admitted he crippled the Afghan gov'ts ability to defend itself for a PR win.

Biden created these problems...he wasn't just "blithe" about this.

Then at 15:15 Oliver AGAIN goes after "some on the right," w/ video of @RonnyJacksonTX saying "I'm not in favor of giving money that I'm pretty confident will end up in the hands of the Taliban," and calls them "clearly assholes" FOR NOT WANTING TO DIRECTLY FUND TERRORIST STATES!

Again, Oliver is CRITICIZING Republicans for NOT WANTING TO FUND THE TALIBAN while absolving Biden for allowing the Taliban to take over so he could get a "I ended the War on Terror" photo op.

Oliver then claims at 16:40 that "math" means we should give money to the Taliban...because the Afghan people are suffering...under the Taliban.

That's literally insane.

Oliver then claims the US should invest in "development aid" in Afghanistan at 17:50 so it can stand on its own...someday.

Was Oliver...asleep for the last 20 years? We KINDA TRIED THAT! We spent TRILLIONS on that! It didn't work.