Axios reporter Alex Thompson told a CNN panel on Thursday that President Joe Biden’s approval ratings have “never, ever recovered” from the August 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan because of a “self-inflicted error.”

Biden’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which saw 13 servicemembers killed in a bombing as American forces were evacuating from Kabul, has received heavy criticism due to its haphazard nature and failure to secure the region. Thompson said that voters’ perceptions of Biden have still yet to recover from the botched withdrawal and its fallout, and the president’s comments following the incident have not helped change that. (RELATED: Donald Trump Jr Tells MSNBC Reporter To ‘Get Out Of Here’ During RNC Floor Dust Up)

“His polling has never ever recovered. If you look at his approval/disapproval rating, it crosses, and at that time with Afghanistan withdrawal and has never recovered,” Thompson said. “In terms of what happened last night, this is a completely self-inflicted error on the president’s part, and the reason has nothing to do with his advisers. This goes to the president himself.”

WATCH:

‘Completely Self-Inflicted’: CNN Guest Says Biden ‘Never, Ever Recovered’ From Afghanistan Withdrawal pic.twitter.com/NJL5o66F8S

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 18, 2024

“The president is incredibly defensive about his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan and the criticism that came after, and the fact is that Joe Biden, who is known and has plenty of evidence of having — you know, have great empathy for people in grief, it was clear at the moment that that happened that he did not meet the moment,” Thompson continued.

Thompson noted that Biden made things worse with his interaction with the families of the slain servicemen, including by checking his watch during the delivery of the fallen servicemen to Dover Air Force Base. Biden also falsely claimed no American military personnel had died on his watch during his June 27 debate with former President Donald Trump.

“He looked at his watch while people came off — like while the bodies came off that plane,” Thompson said. “Afterward, the families complained that he was talking too much about his own son, not about their sons. And in response to the criticism from those families, he did not reach back out.”

Thompson said that Trump took advantage of Biden’s failure.

“Starting in September of 2021, Donald Trump was on the phone with these families, meeting with them, spending time with them, and that’s why they were on that stage last night, is because Joe Biden, who is supposed to be — this is supposed to be the thing he is greatest at —was too defensive to reach out to those families, and that’s why this is now a political problem four months before the election,” Thompson concluded.

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