Republicans in Congress are questioning President Joe Biden’s mental state, and in some cases are calling for him to resign over the United States’ chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
At least seven Republicans have argued that Biden should resign and have called into question his fitness for the presidency amid his repeated trips to Camp David and his home in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden has addressed the crisis in Afghanistan only twice since Kabul fell to the Taliban, reading a prepared statement on Monday, Aug. 16, and sitting for an exclusive interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday, Aug. 18.
During those appearances, Biden blamed Afghan and American military leaders, American intelligence officials, and former President Donald Trump for the chaotic withdrawal, asserting that there was no “way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing.” Less than two months earlier, Biden claimed that the Ashraf Ghani-led Afghan government “clearly ha[d] the capacity to sustain the government in place.”
Amid Biden’s low profile, Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, who deployed to Afghanistan in 2014, asserted that “our troops … see this Commander in Chief is unfit to lead.”
Afghanistan veterans have wide array of sentiments about our continued presence there but make no mistake about it … Biden’s #Afghanistan blunder is demoralizing to veterans who served there who’ve seen the cost and to our troops who see this Commander in Chief is unfit to lead.
— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) August 15, 2021
“Biden and Harris … are completely unfit to lead,” Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs tweeted.
These past few days have proven what we’ve already known about Biden and Harris.
They are completely unfit to lead.
They must resign!
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) August 17, 2021
New York Rep. Elise Stefanik described Biden’s Monday address as “weak,” adding that his “lack of a plan, dereliction of duty, and deafening silence erodes our credibility to defend U.S. interests in the future.”
President Joe Biden’s weak address to the American people shows he is unfit to serve as President of the United States.
Full statement 👇 👇 👇https://t.co/62QwNNTmHW
— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) August 16, 2021
Florida Sen. Rick Scott told Fox News on Thursday that Americans “must ask the serious question of whether Joe Biden is fit to lead our nation as commander in chief … as he hides from the American public and the press.”
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson added that the “unmitigated disaster we’ve seen in Afghanistan” confirms Biden’s lack of fitness.
Biden became the oldest person to win a presidential election in 2020 and became the oldest president on the day he was sworn into office. Questions about his mental fitness have followed Biden since the beginning of his presidential campaign, from Democratic rivals as well as Republicans.
Fourteen House Republicans requested in June that Biden take and publicize the results of a cognitive fitness test. The letter was spearheaded by Texas Rep. and former White House physician Ronny Jackson.