“Looks Just Like Jimmy Carter”: ABC Panel Compares Biden to Carter as Cruz Says Durham Findings Are “Bigger Than Watergate”

On 2/21/2022, an ABC News panel drew a devastating comparison between Biden and Jimmy Carter, with one panelist saying Biden “ran as Harry Truman, thought he was going to govern as Franklin Roosevelt, but this looks just like Jimmy Carter in every possible way.” Senator Cruz warned that if the Durham filing allegations were true, “it’s a lot bigger than Watergate.” The Pentagon admitted it was “still digesting” the Afghanistan withdrawal six months later, and Secretary Blinken deflected when asked why Putin had not escalated during the Trump administration by saying simply: “Ask him."

"Looks Just Like Jimmy Carter”

The ABC panel discussion cut to the heart of Biden’s political vulnerability. “Joe Biden ran as Harry Truman. He thought he was going to govern as Franklin Roosevelt. But this to me looks just like Jimmy Carter in every possible way,” a panelist said. “Is he going to do to them what Jimmy Carter did, which is give us Ronald Reagan?”

The comparison touched every dimension of the Carter parallel: inflation, energy crisis, foreign policy weakness, and an adversary testing American resolve.

”Still Digesting” Afghanistan

Pentagon spokesman Admiral Kirby was asked what lessons the Biden administration had learned from the chaotic Kabul evacuation. His answer was remarkable for its candor.

“What has the administration learned from the chaos of Kabul last August?” a reporter asked.

“Well, we’re still digesting what happened in August, Bill,” Kirby said. He then tried to separate the two situations. “They are two very different circumstances. And there’s not a lot of parallel between what we’re seeing now in Ukraine and what we saw in Afghanistan.”

Cruz: “The Weakness, the Fecklessness of Joe Biden”

Senator Cruz connected the Afghanistan withdrawal directly to the Ukraine crisis. “Joe Biden’s surrender and disastrous retreat from Afghanistan is the worst military catastrophe for the United States in decades,” Cruz said. “And the consequences — at the time I said, as a result of this incredible weakness, all of our enemies across the globe are looking to Washington. They are taking the measure of the man in the Oval Office.”

“As I said back in August, the chances of Russia invading Ukraine have just risen tenfold. The chances of China invading Taiwan have just risen tenfold,” Cruz continued. “We’re seeing the first of those two shoes dropping today.”

“Tragically, Europe is on the verge of war because of the weakness, the fecklessness of Joe Biden,” Cruz said.

”A Lot Bigger Than Watergate”

Cruz also addressed the Durham investigation’s revelations about Clinton-connected operatives monitoring Trump White House servers. “They were spying on a sitting president,” Cruz said. “You and I both remember when President Trump said the Democrats are spying on me and the corporate media collectively laughed at him. They mocked him. Well, if what Special Counsel Durham is alleging is true, what Donald Trump said was absolutely right.”

“If Hillary Clinton is complicit with this, her campaign is complicit with it, her lawyers are complicit with it, Big Tech is complicit with it — if this is true, it’s a lot bigger than Watergate,” Cruz said. “That was a bungled third-rate burglary. It was wrong. People went to jail for Watergate, and people need to go to jail for this if these allegations are true.”

The video included a flashback of Trump on “60 Minutes” telling Leslie Stahl: “They spied on my campaign. They got caught.” Stahl had dismissed the claim; Trump responded: “You won’t put it on because it’s bad for Biden.”

Blinken: “Ask Him”

Secretary of State Blinken was asked why Putin had not escalated during the Trump administration. His answer was a single deflection: “Ask him.”

$9 Bacon

In a lighter but telling moment, a commentator captured the inflation reality. “I can’t go to the grocery store without complaining about the price of eggs and bacon. I mean, a pound of bacon is almost $9. Jesus. I mean, that’s it for me and bacon. I never thought I would give it up.”

Cruz on Nord Stream 2

Cruz repeated his case that Biden’s waiver of Nord Stream 2 sanctions had directly enabled Putin. “Putin stopped building the pipeline the day President Trump signed those sanctions. That pipeline was dead for over a year until Joe Biden became president,” Cruz said. “Putin began building again on January 24th, 2021 — four days after Biden was sworn into office. That is why we have over 100,000 troops and Russian tanks on the border of Ukraine.”

Key Takeaways

• An ABC panel said Biden “ran as Harry Truman, looks just like Jimmy Carter in every possible way” — raising the specter of a Reagan-like Republican wave.
• The Pentagon admitted it was “still digesting” the Afghanistan withdrawal six months later and could not cite lessons learned.
• Cruz said the Durham findings — if true — were “a lot bigger than Watergate” and that “people need to go to jail.”
• Cruz tied the Ukraine crisis directly to Biden’s “weakness and fecklessness,” saying the chances of Russian invasion had risen “tenfold” after Afghanistan.
• Blinken was asked why Putin didn’t escalate under Trump and answered simply: “Ask him.”

Transcript Highlights

The following is transcribed from the video audio (unverified — AI-generated from audio).

• Joe Biden ran as Harry Truman. He thought he was going to govern as Franklin Roosevelt. But this looks just like Jimmy Carter in every possible way.
• We’re still digesting what happened in August.
• Europe is on the verge of war because of the weakness, the fecklessness of Joe Biden.
• If this is true, it’s a lot bigger than Watergate. People went to jail for Watergate, and people need to go to jail for this.
• They spied on my campaign. They got caught. You won’t put it on because it’s bad for Biden.
• A pound of bacon is almost $9. That’s it for me and bacon.

Full transcript: 1097 words transcribed via Whisper AI.