Nicolle Wallace: ’95 percent of Americans will agree’ with Biden speech on Afghanistan

MSNBC host Nicole Wallace predicted President Biden’s speech on the ballooning crisis in Afghanistan will be more well received among the American public than it will be by the Washington, D.C., press corps. 

“Ninety-five percent of the American people will agree with everything he just said,” Wallace said shortly after Biden’s speech ended on Monday afternoon. “Ninety-five percent of the press covering this White House will disagree.”

During his remarks from the White House East Room, Biden doubled down on his decision to pull troops from Afghanistan, saying he would not pass the country’s longest war on to another American president. 

“I will not mislead the American people by claiming that just a little more time in Afghanistan will make all the difference. Nor will I shrink from my share of responsibility for where we are today and how we must move forward from here,” he said. “I am the president of the United States of America and the buck stops with me.” 

MSNBC host @NicolleDWallace: “95% of the American people will agree with everything [President Biden] just said. 95% of the press covering this White House will disagree.” pic.twitter.com/UzLr6DPyPz

— The Recount (@therecount) August 16, 2021

The Taliban overtook Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul on Sunday after a quick rise following Biden‘s decision to remove U.S. troops from the region, something he has supported doing since his time as vice president. 

The ensuing panic has sent thousands of Afghans into a state of fear, with hundreds descending on the airport in Kabul hoping to flee the country. 

Biden said on Saturday the U.S. would send an additional 1,000 troops to the area to help evacuate U.S. personnel on the ground and vowed to retaliate if the Taliban interfered in the extraction effort. 

“For an American president to finally be aligned with what such an overwhelming majority of Americans think about Afghanistan is probably a tremendous relief to the American people,” Wallace continued. 

Wallace, before joining MSNBC as a host and analyst, was a longtime communications operative in Republican politics and a staffer in the George W. Bush White House.