President Trump did not bother sugarcoating a single thing on Thursday, and honestly, given the circumstances, who could blame him. He had just announced the death of Sarah Beckstrom, a 20 year old West Virginia National Guard soldier who fought for her life for 36 hours after being shot in Washington, D.C. Her fellow Guardsman, 24 year old Andrew Wolfe, is still in critical condition. Both were attacked by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who entered the country after Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
That alone should have been enough to make every reporter in the room stop and think. Instead, one decided to ask Trump why he blamed Biden for letting the attacker into the United States. Trump didn’t hold back. “Because they let him in. Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person?” he shot back. It was blunt, probably uncomfortable for the press corps, but entirely accurate. Lakanwal arrived under Operation Allies Welcome around a month after the fall of Kabul. According to CIA Director John Ratcliffe, he even had prior connections with American agencies while working with a partner force in Kandahar. None of that changes the fact that he was waved into the country during Biden’s mass entry fiasco with minimal vetting.
Trump laid out the gravity of the situation before the reporter tried to redirect blame. He said the suspect was flown in by the Biden administration and called the attack a reminder of the largest national security threat facing the United States. He also pointed out that the previous administration allowed in millions of unvetted foreigners from unstable regions. Then he made it simple. If someone does not love the country or contribute to it, they do not belong here.
When the reporter kept pushing, Trump doubled down. He explained that there was a law passed that makes it nearly impossible to expel people once they come in, especially under the rushed certification process used in 2021. It was sloppy, reckless and exactly what critics warned about when Biden sped through tens of thousands of arrivals with almost no oversight. Trump is right about another point too. The Afghanistan withdrawal was a disaster. None of it should have happened the way it did, and Americans have endured the consequences ever since.
Not long after finishing his remarks, Trump announced that his administration will move to halt and reverse immigration from third world countries, shifting attention to legal immigrants who show hostility to American values. It is a needed correction. Security should come before political narratives, and Thursday’s tragedy made that painfully clear.
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