FACT CHECK: SURPRISINGLY TRUE! White House chief of staff Ron Klain retweets Paul Begala saying Biden’s handling of Afghanistan has been ‘Trumanesque.’
Let’s review the criteria: 76 years ago this month, Truman dropped two atomic bombs on Japan to decisively end World War II. In contrast, Joe Biden’s administration, staffed with plenty of Obama retreads, is determined to give Iran the capability of making A-Bombs. So, Analysis: FALSE.
But, as a result of the debacle in Afghanistan, as Clay Travis notes, “Biden’s job approval rating has turned negative for the first time in his presidency. Rough chart. Not sure if it will ever be positive again.”
Similarly, Harry Truman’s poll numbers cratered as a result of the Korean War and an American recession. So, Analysis: TRUE.
However, that was after Truman squeaked through his election in 1948 after becoming president upon FDR’s death three years earlier. One factor that played a role in Truman’s shock election was his relentlessly negative campaign against Thomas Dewey in the final weeks of the campaign, leading to this October 26, 1948 New York Times headline: “PRESIDENT LIKENS DEWEY TO HITLER AS FASCISTS’ TOOL.” Last year, Biden on the way to his own shock victory, used similar language, as this September 26, 2020 Politico headline illustrates: “‘He’s sort of like Goebbels:’ Biden compares Trump to Nazi propagandist.” Once again, Analysis: TRUE.
During the Korean War, Truman famously sacked MacArthur in 1951. While Biden has yet to fire any generals, he did give the Afghani army a surprising dressing down immediately after Kabul fell, as Allahpundit paraphrased on Monday: “Biden doubles down on withdrawal: How many more Americans should die to defend people who won’t defend themselves?” This is a close enough comparison that we can say: Analysis: TRUE!
And like Truman, Biden will likely walk out of the White House (if what’s left of his health holds out) seen as a mammoth failure as president. But also like Truman, an army of leftist historians and Democratic Party operatives with bylines will devote their lives to telling the American people, “who are you going to believe when it comes to how wonderful a president Biden was, us or your lying eyes?” Yet again, Analysis: TRUE!
As Mickey Kaus asked in 2011, “Do the Truman analogies come before or after the Call for the Wise Men? I’ve misplaced my copy of the Failing Presidency Playbook.”