We report a lot on Joe Biden's gaffes and incoherence. Those are important and troubling things to note because they put our country at risk when we have a man occupying the White House who has such problems. We saw another gaffe Friday that I wrote about earlier that earned Biden a Community Note from X and a lot of mockery. 

In some ways, what's even worse is the way he treats the American people. When he ran, he pitched himself as the "empathy guy." Yet, he seems anything but in situations that have called for him to care about his fellow Americans as the "leader" of this nation. He was finally forced to say he would go to East Palestine, Ohio, after the environmental damage from a train derailment because people didn't feel his administration was properly addressing the situation. Then he never went. We saw more recently how he has dealt with the disaster in Maui, and that's been truly shameful, first not commenting and smirking, then when he finally showed up, he botched the names of their representatives, making inappropriate jokes, zoning out, looking like he was falling asleep, and then comparing the disaster to the kitchen fire that he had where he falsely claimed he "almost lost" his wife, his 67 Corvette, and his cat. 

Saturday was the anniversary of the terrorist bombing at the Abbey Gate at the Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul during the Afghanistan withdrawal, which killed 13 Americans and wounded many more on August 26, 2021. If you want to learn a little bit about them, here's what I wrote shortly after. It was such a loss, and they were all so young. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy posted about it Saturday morning, recognizing the dead with their names and pictures and lowering the flag in honor of their sacrifice. 

Two years ago today, we tragically lost 13 brave servicemen and women in Afghanistan. I have directed the flags at the U.S. Capitol to be lowered to half-staff in honor of these American heroes. pic.twitter.com/BTMrRNl5Av

— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) August 26, 2023

Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25
Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23
Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31
Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22
Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23
Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22
Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20
Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20
Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20
Lance Cpl. Dylan R.… pic.twitter.com/OEmnpozHyB

— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) August 26, 2023

Meanwhile, as the hours of the day were clicking away, there was no action from the White House. That prompted a lot of talk about their lack of action. 

The Biden White House homepage has room for:
-student loans
-Ukraine Independence Day
-extreme weather

But not the statement on the anniversary of the Kabul bombing that killed 13 American service members. pic.twitter.com/j7yZ9NVTN1

— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) August 27, 2023

It was only after the House GOP actions and the backlash that Biden took any action at all. Finally, at around 5:00 p.m., with the normal work day almost over, there was a short statement posted on the White House website and issued as a press release. It was incredibly brief and didn't even list the names of those killed. 

"We will forever honor the memory of the 13 service members who were stolen far too soon from their families, loved ones, and brothers- and sisters-in-arms, while performing a noble mission on behalf of our nation," the statement said. Unbelievably they also said in the statement, "We pray for the families of our fallen warriors. We grieve with them, we honor them, and we will always continue to support them."

If you can't even be bothered to list the names of those who were killed (do you even know them?), one tends to think you don't care much. On top of that and doing it at the last minute, the White House couldn't be bothered to lower the flag. While Biden made a brief statement on the White House website, the president did not post anything about it on X. He was still on the last day of his vacation in Lake Tahoe. Priorities, again. 

But what's worse is Biden saying we will always continue to support them [the families] when he wouldn't even meet with them and hasn't done anything about their calls for accountability for the failures that led to their deaths. 

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) said: 

“The Biden statement is too little, too late, and predictably insincere as he neither has the courage to face these these Gold Star families nor even say the names of their sons and daughters.“This is all a good reminder that Biden claimed as president he would be an experienced elder statesman and an uncommonly empathetic leader. It was all a lie.” 

“We have received no response from the White House why Biden refuses to meet with the Gold Star families — which is disappointing but hardly a surprise. Biden’s casual cruelty towards these grieving parents began two years ago and continues with, apparently, no end in sight,” Issa spokesperson Jonathan Wilcox explained.

In my opinion, the 13 get treated like this because they're inconvenient to Joe Biden's story about himself that he's such a wonderful success at everything. They're a reminder of what a debacle he made of the withdrawal. That's disgusting. But that's the empathetic guy we have now occupying the White House.