Joe Biden finally came back from Camp David after saying nothing in person to the American people for days about the disaster unfolding in Afghanistan.

But his speech was basically an angry justification of withdrawal, not any kind of an explanation for why his withdrawal was such a monumental failure. He seemed angry that people even dared to question him on it and blamed everyone else, even as he claimed the “buck” stopped with him. He took virtually no responsibility.

On top of all that, he told monstrous lies including that they didn’t rescue some of the allies who had worked for us because they really didn’t want to leave. There have been thousands, screaming for months for help, appealing anywhere to get out. Biden has said that he was working on a plan to get them out. But he dithered as people — including us — said that the window was closing and he was running out of time. Even in his speech yesterday, as he essentially blamed those people for their own situation now, he talked about getting them out over days, when they are now behind enemy lines if they are not at the airport already.

Then he immediately fled back to Camp David, taking no questions, like the coward that he is.

So what did Americans think of Biden’s speech? Biden should worry. Because it sounds like Americans have his number, if the assessment of their reaction to the speech is correct.

According to Maslansky + Partners president Lee Carter, the speech didn’t go over well, even among Democrats, he told Fox and Friends.

Voters have more questions now than before Biden's speech: Lee Carter | https://t.co/fJOV6yYKlw

— Dr. Nickarama (@nickaramaOG) August 17, 2021

While Democrats gave him some credit for what he said, they were “really disappointed overall with the message,” she said. When he said, “The buck stops with me,” Democrats liked that but independents flunked him with an “F.” “We’re not mad that he did it. We are mad instead that he pulled out the troops in this way and put them in harm’s way. So the buck does stop with him,” one independent said.

But then it really went downhill for Biden.

Biden’s explanation of the war in Afghanistan and reminder of his commitment to end U.S. involvement, however, received a “C” grade from Democrats. Carter said the low grade from Democrats and an “F” grade from both Republicans and Independents are again because the troop withdrawal was not conducted in the “right way.”

“Many people said he honored his commitment, but he failed in honoring to do it in the right way,” Carter told Fox News’ Steve Doocy. “It wasn’t, again, that he did it. It was how he did it.”

Another big problem, while he was all about trying to justify the withdrawal, he didn’t say enough about how he was going to be saving people who are still there.

“People wanted to hear that he was going to operate swiftly, that he was going to protect the American people. People want to hear what he’s going to do to fix it. There are so many unanswered questions,” Carter said. “People have more questions left now than when he started his speech, and he didn’t address what’s most important to the American people.”

That’s bad news for Biden when he’s completely lost independents, and he even gets bad grades from Democrats.

Democrats can make a lot of excuses for Biden and they have done so. But with the fall of Afghanistan, Biden’s incompetence and failure were on full display, so much so that even many Democrats saw it and could no longer excuse it. Many on social media for example said that they had supported him in the past but that this was a bridge too far. This reaction shows that, for independents who had no party loyalty to him, his speech was a disaster.