The Congressman also wants Pelosi gone.
A Republican Congressman from Northeast Florida is calling for President Joe Biden to resign from office.
U.S. Rep. John Rutherford, who represents Florida’s 4th Congressional District, blasted Biden in the wake of the Afghanistan withdrawal.
“It’s official: President Biden has left Americans stranded at the hands of the Taliban. He now must resign immediately or face impeachment proceedings in the House. There WILL be accountability for his despicable actions!”
Rutherford’s call for immediate resignation, issued via Twitter, does not appear to be heeded. Biden is slated to address the nation on Tuesday afternoon, in what are expected to be his first remarks after the withdrawal of American troops concluded.
The third-term legislator has not been shy in calling for prominent Democrats to leave the public sphere as the U.S. has wrapped its two-decade military commitment in Afghanistan.
On Twitter last week, he issued a similarly absolutist statement toward House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“If Speaker Pelosi refuses to call the House back into Session so we can address Afghanistan and present the voice of the people on the House floor, then we need to recall the speaker with a vote of no confidence!” Rutherford wrote.
Rutherford isn’t an early adopter of the calls for Biden to resign. Republicans in Congress and far beyond have urged Biden to step down. Some, such as U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, have called for the 25th Amendment to be invoked.
Rutherford was one of many Republicans who in January challenged votes that led to Biden’s Presidency, voting against the certification of two slates of electors. That objection led to people protesting Rutherford, calling for his resignation.
Rutherford’s CD 4 is a safe seat. The most competitive election he has faced came in the 2016 Republican Primary. Democrats have not mounted a serious challenge in three runs against him.
Either you are an uninformed, unqualified Representative – or a political hack who can not think for himself.
Note for the record, when Trump left office we had fewer than 2,000 fighting people in Afghanistan, and remember how Biden opponents (like you) howled about him sending more in, just to secure one airport. How many would we have needed for two? How many would we have needed to guard everyone who had to travel cross country to Karzai or Bagram airfields? How were we going to organize a large exit of US friendlies and citizens without initiating exactly what happened when we said we were leaving?
Biden did not create the situation. He was left a menu of bad decisions and worse decisions to choose from. No decision that could produce an outcome that looked like success was on the menu. It took a huge amount of courage to make the right call. He could have followed his predecessors and just perpetuated a senseless hopeless waste for a bit longer, although Trump’s near total withdrawal and deal with the Taliban made staying a lot worse than it had been.
The big problems were attributable to the Taliban taking the country in days. Who let the Taliban spread throughout the country and cache men and materials to wait for an end game? (Trump.) Who made the Afghan army a pathetic facade? (Everybody before Biden.) Who hollowed out our intelligence services and our state department expertise? (Trump). I admire Biden’s courage and his attempt to do the right thing as best he can.
You, John Rutherford as our Representative, help put us all in harm’s way over the years with your deliberate attempts (such as this) to undermine competency of responsible, informed leadership. 130,000 souls have been evacuated. And we are out of this war. No thanks to you.
Well at least you got most of the Dems talking points out there. The only thing missing is the facts.
Perhaps this might enlighten you. Homework required. Notice the August 16th reports – among the many others. https://www.sigar.mil/allreports/
Facts, Tom. Reading required. https://www.npr.org/2021/08/15/1027951992/u-s-watchdog-criticizes-steps-preceding-taliban-takeover-in-afghanistan
I think you would feel differently if one of your family members had been left behind. I know of no one who thinks we should have stayed in Afghanistan. I know of no one who thinks the exit – which was 100% on Biden – was handled in anything other than a horrific, deadly and insane way. Why not get Americans, Allies out before setting a self-imposed mandatory evacuation date for military? Why not destroy billions of dollars of equipment after the Afghan army abandoned it so it couldn’t fall into the hands of the Taliban? Why not listen to military leaders? Trump committed to exiting Afghanistan but he is not responsible for the shoddy and deadly way it was done.
You do understand there are multiple ways to extract U.S. citizens from foreign countries that do not require thousands of U.S. troops. And I guess you missed the news of the Taliban’s anger that U.S. troops disabled the helicopters and other major armaments, making them useless.
Finally, there is a reason the founding favors make a civilian president the commander-in-chief. They knew it was important to make decisions about war and peace on more than just military capacity. Read the recently released Afghanistan Papers and you will see why they felt that way.
Your combat, military experience? Or lack thereof. Or reliable sources? I can understand you know of no one “who thinks the exit … was handled in anything other than a horrific, deadly and insane way”. Looks to me that’s exactly why you have no clue.
And how many times has Rutherford voted for more spending for military activities in Afghanistan, leading to over 6,500 deaths of Americans, over 200,000 innocent Afghan lives lost, 2 trillion dollars spent (billions unaccounted for), and a country left in shambles and in the hands of fascist religious reactionaries? Such hypocrisy.
Insurrection? Not impeachable. Quid pro quo? Not impeachable. Lying about a pandemic that killed 600,000 Americans? Not impeachable.
Keeping a promise to end a 20 year war? Throw the bum out!
Republican values on display.