Patrick Christys: I hope American voters kept their receipts, because they should be asking for a refund

President Joe Biden’s Afghan indignity is complete – America’s longest war is now over. Celebratory Taliban gunfire rang out inside Kabul airport as the final US flight out of Afghanistan took off.

It’s an historic day – after 20 years, the lives of 2,500 US servicemen and women, 250,000 Afghans and $2 trillion, America is out. But it isn’t the plane taking off from Kabul Airport that counts, it’s the one that landed in Delaware carrying the bodies of 13 US troops that does.

As the coffins emerged one by one it didn’t initially appear that the families of the war dead were present – it was only when howling was heard from behind a row of buses that the true grief of the situation was clear.

What did Joe Biden do? He checked his watch. Somewhere to be Joe? One distraught mother directly pinned the blame on Biden for her son’s death, one father said when he met with the President, the President spoke about his own son more than the grieving father’s. I just don’t think Biden gets it. I don’t think he gets what he’s done. I don’t think he gets the human impact of the decisions he’s made or the damage he’s caused. I wonder how much buyer’s remorse there is in America today.

If Joe Biden was a product, you’d take him back to the shop and ask for a refund - and they’d have to give it to you. Why? Because he falsely advertised himself. Joe Biden was mis-sold. In one of his first speeches he said, and I quote: ‘America is back, the transatlantic alliance is back, the US is determined to reinstate its position of trust and leadership.’ What transatlantic relationship? Joe Biden blindsided everyone with his hasty retreat. He went on: ‘Democracy doesn’t happen by accident, we have to fight for it.’

Well, notwithstanding the argument that the US and NATO troops should never have bothered to try to bring democracy to that part of the world anyway, he hasn’t fought for it, has he? There is footage of armed Taliban fighters standing behind a newsreader as he delivers the headlines. Possibly the most pertinent image is of Taliban fighters dressed in US military gear, looking exactly like marines.

What a metaphor that is for America’s sorry end. I wonder how the mainstream media in America feels today – they hounded Trump relentlessly, peddled scandal after scandal, tried to topple him every single day like they were playing Presidential jenga. There’s no doubt that influenced the public at the ballot box. They gave him an easy ride – he was hailed as a hero, the saviour of America. I wonder how they feel today.

Let’s get back to that buyer’s remorse – Biden promised better international relations, he’s annoyed most of the Western world and handed a resource rich nation in Afghanistan over to China and Russia. He promised competent leadership – well, how’s that going? He promised to uphold democracy – how long before he steps down and America has an unelected President?

I hope American voters kept their receipts, because they should be asking for a refund. Joe Biden looked at his watch while those coffins came out of the plane, the reality is, the clock is ticking on his Presidency.