Oregon Republican Alek Skarlatos, a U.S. Army National Guard veteran, told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview Monday that Republicans veterans would serve as a check to President Joe Biden’s disastrous foreign policy if they take back the House majority in the 2022 midterm elections.
Skarlatos, widely known for his heroic stopping of a heavily armed attacker on a Paris-bound train in 2015, spoke to Breitbart News as Biden defended his planned withdrawal of Afghanistan.
Biden admitted during his presser that the collapse of the Afghanistan government to the Taliban fell more “quickly” than anticipated.
Skarlatos — who completed a nine-month deployment in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army National Guard’s 186th Infantry Regiment — said he had supported the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan since 2011, but that Biden’s plan was a “disaster.”
“There’s a lot of different ways we could have done it – really any way else other than how we did it. I think would have been a lot better. We definitely should have put more emphasis on getting our men and equipment out, and, of course, all of our Afghan allies interpreters, Afghan Special Forces that help us out along the way as well,” Skarlatos told Breitbart News.
Skarlatos then charged that if Republicans were in control of the House majority, they would not have let this debacle happen. He noted that many Republican veterans, such as himself, are running to serve as a check on Biden’s foreign policy and overall agenda.
The Oregon conservative said, “We’ve been to Afghanistan, and we understand the situation … We have an appreciation for the people that helped us in Afghanistan. And I think we would have made sure everybody that deserved to get out or wanted to get out before we just abandon the country like it seems like we have. So, I think that with all the veterans running for Congress that we’ve just never let this happen.”
Republicans hope to retake the House majority by recruiting veterans.
Skarlatos hopes to unseat Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) in Oregon’s fourth district.
Former Navy SEAL Derrick Van Orden hopes to flip Wisconsin’s third congressional district in the 2022 midterm elections.
Eli Crane, a business owner and former Navy SEAL, plans to oust Rep. Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ) in Arizona’s first congressional district.
Jarome Bell, a retired chief petty officer for the Navy, plans to unseat Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) in Virginia’s second congressional district.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has to defend her historically slim majority during the 2022 midterm elections. Recruiting veterans such as Skarlatos, Van Orden, Bell, and Crane could help Republicans take back control of the Speaker’s gavel as Biden and congressional Democrats continue to grapple with Biden’s Afghanistan debacle. The Afghanistan withdrawal could even impact the 2022 midterms, as some veterans have attacked Biden and Democrats over their failed leadership.
Sean Parnell, an Army veteran running for the Senate in Pennsylvania, said that “leaders lead” and do not “pass the buck” and blame others. He slammed Biden for blaming former President Donald Trump and others for the debacle that has unfolded under his administration.
Skarlatos said that Republicans could do better at foreign policy and other issues in power. He emphasized that many politicians could have seen the incoming Biden withdrawal debacle occur.
“I just think Republicans do a better job of just about everything. I don’t think that someone who hasn’t been to Afghanistan militarily should be in charge of the withdrawal frankly,” he said.
Skarlatos said, “Anyone that has spent time in Afghanistan knew that this was going to happen — play out pretty much exactly how it has, so why was no one prepared for it? I’m not a high-ranking general. I could have told you this exact sentence that happened.”
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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