On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” former MSNBC host Chris Matthews stated that 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump’s criticism of President Joe Biden during Thursday’s presidential debate that Biden didn’t fire anyone after the Afghanistan withdrawal was “really smart” and that Biden’s reluctance to fire people is “a problem” because being willing to fire people can help get you credibility like it did for President Ronald Reagan with the air traffic controllers. Matthews further stated, “I don’t understand, why weren’t the generals bounced after that disastrous retreat from Afghanistan? Nothing.”
After former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) criticized Biden for asserting that no American soldiers have been killed during his administration and noted the deaths of Americans killed in Kabul, Matthews stated, “And he also said, I never — Trump had one really smart line. He said, you never fire anybody. And that’s a problem. If you don’t fire anybody [in] an executive position, like Reagan got rid of the aircraft — air traffic controllers and that sent a message to the Soviet Union. They took him seriously after that. You’ve got to — why didn’t — … I don’t understand, why weren’t the generals bounced after that disastrous retreat from Afghanistan? Nothing.”
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