Insight: “A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care of all to acquire.” —François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680)

“The crisis at the border and the stunningly swift defeat in Afghanistan are entirely on Biden. He took sustainable situations and overturned them out of ideological fixity and fantastical wishful thinking. The outcomes were utterly predictable. Indeed, anyone who knew anything about the border or Afghanistan warned what would happen. The debacles haven’t been the product of forces beyond Biden’s control; events didn’t take a hand, he did. These are man-made disasters. … In both cases, he quite literally chose chaos.” —Rich Lowry

“Any new president inherits realities that precede him. The issue confronting every president is what principles and policies will he put in place to deal with these existing realities that will define his administration. Most clear now is that America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan is surrounded by a perception of confusion, weakness and humiliation. For anyone who believes that our nation should be a beacon of strength for freedom in the world, that beacon has been deeply tarnished.” —Star Parker

“[Pro-American] Afghanis were assured they’d be protected. Instead, the Biden administration has shown far less concern for them than for the migrants who are breaking our laws to enter illegally and have done nothing for America. A double standard.” —Betsy McCaughey

“For those saying that the Afghan people are merely going back to what they are used to, remember that the median age in Afghanistan is 18 — and the Taliban fell 20 years ago.” —Ben Shapiro

“It’s alarming that neither President Biden nor Vice-President Harris has the capacity to answer questions during a major foreign policy crisis of their own creation.” —Senator Tom Cotton

“Radical Islam supports female genital mutilation, which is a terrible thing. Leftism supports the genital mutilation of both males and females, except for the purpose of turning males into females and vice versa.” —Matt Walsh

Non compos mentis: “I commend the president for the action that he took. It was strong, it was decisive, and it was the right thing to do.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Grand delusions: “The economy is doing great.” —Congresswoman Lauren Underwood

And last… “I have not heard one word from all of these women in ‘The Squad’ in Congress saying anything about protecting the women of Afghanistan. You know, they’re closed-mouthed right now. It doesn’t fill their narrative. People ought to be sick of this. They really should be.” —Senator Tommy Tuberville