U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips flip-flopped his stance on the current administration’s handling of Afghanistan, moving to cover for President Joe Biden just days after calling for accountability.
Phillips wrote on Twitter that the “execution of that decision [to leave Afghanistan] — and the attendant consequences — must be owned by the current administration.”
My sentiment exactly. The decision to leave Afghanistan was made by the former President. The execution of that decision – and the attendant consequences – must be owned by the current administration. https://t.co/ZcGgxHQF5R
— Rep. Dean Phillips 🇺🇸 (@RepDeanPhillips) August 15, 2021
Just one day later, Phillips claimed Afghanistan is neither a “Democratic failure or a Republican failure.” He said he has had enough of the “juvenile finger pointing.”
“[Afghanistan] represents a collective failure of American strategy,” Phillips said.
Enough of the juvenile finger pointing. Afghanistan isn’t a Democratic failure or Republican failure. It represents a collective failure of American strategy. Our outstanding military can defend, protect, and keep the peace, but democracies can only be built from the inside.
— Rep. Dean Phillips 🇺🇸 (@RepDeanPhillips) August 16, 2021
Preya Samsundar with the Republican National Committee told Alpha News that “Democrats have been awfully silent about the White House’s level of responsibility.”
Phillips’ ambivalence does “not come as a surprise,” she continued.
“The two-term congressman, elected during the 2018 blue wave, was an ardent supporter of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris during their 2020 bid for president,” Samsundar explained. “Phillips, along with his fellow Minnesota Democrats, often acted as a surrogate for the campaign.”
Despite Phillips’ latest affirmative stance on Biden’s role, “even loyal Democrats” like Phillips know Biden is at fault for the “disaster in Afghanistan,” the RNC said in a statement.
Last weekend, former President Donald Trump criticized Biden’s “gross incompetence” in the withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying it’s the “greatest foreign policy humiliation” in America’s history.
This is not the first time Phillips has been contradictory in his stance on controversial issues. Phillips once denounced Rep. Ilhan Omar’s anti-Semitic comments, only to backtrack on his position and continue supporting Omar’s role on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Phillips has also been at the center of an ethics complaint regarding his involvement in stock trades at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, has publicly apologized for his “white privilege,” and has claimed the public should not expect “safety and order” until “400 years of racism and oppression” have been amended.
