• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

This blog will pay for itself.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

People are complicated. Love is not.

This really is a full service blog.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Late Night Open Thread: Leeroy Jenkins Goes to Kabul

Late Night Open Thread: Leeroy Jenkins Goes to Kabul

by Anne Laurie|  August 24, 202111:59 pm| 46 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Open Threads

FacebookTweetEmail

It CANNOT be overstated how angry Pentagon & State Dept officials are at Rep. Moulton & Rep. Peter Meijer for flying to Afghanistan in the middle of an evacuation. “It’s as moronic as it is selfish. They’re taking seats away from Americans,” official says https://t.co/oY9IBbg1iC

— John Hudson (@John_Hudson) August 25, 2021

Seth Moulton is a child of privilege — well-to-do parents, grew up in a very nice and very pricey town, educated at Phillips Andover and Harvard — who actually did serve his country with distinction, doing four tours in Iraq. Unfortunately, that experience seems to have convinced him he is bulletproof, not to mention incapable of making mistakes. From what I know of Peter Meijer, he had a similar upbringing… and a similar conviction of his own immunity. This particular stunt, however, was a MISTAKE:

… “It’s as moronic as it is selfish,” said a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide a frank assessment of their trip. “They’re taking seats away from Americans and at-risk Afghans — while putting our diplomats and service members at greater risk — so they can have a moment in front of the cameras.”

In a joint statement from Moulton and Meijer emailed to The Washington Post by Moulton spokesman Tim Biba, the two pushed back on the notion that their trip caused a distraction.

“We have been on the other side of this argument while we were serving and it just isn’t accurate,” Moulton and Meijer said. “Trust us: the professionals on the ground are focused on the mission. Many thanked us for coming.”

From securing the airport to stamping visas to processing biometric data, U.S. officials in Kabul are racing to rush U.S. citizens and allies out of the country in a dire security environment. The threat of a terrorist attack on the airport by the Islamic State is “real” and “acute,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned Sunday…

The two lawmakers began their journey to Kabul via a commercial flight to the United Arab Emirates, paying for the tickets using their own funds, Biba said. From there they “figured out a way onto an empty military flight going into Kabul,” Biba said, without providing additional specifics. They landed at Hamid Karzai International Airport around 4 a.m. Washington time, according to a person familiar with their travel.

It was unclear how the pair had initially planned to get out of the country…

The original Leeroy Jenkins! clip turns out to have been staged — which didn’t keep it from becoming a meme. The Errol Flynn Twins here had the know-how, and the luck, to get in and out of the mediagenic chaos unharmed… but the next Very Important Legislator(s) inspired by their stunt may not get such a happy ending.

Can you imagine having to negotiate with the Taliban to ensure the safe return of Louie Gohmert, or whichever goober wants to succeed to Chuck Grassley’s seat? Or, more likely, to collect the bodies of said self-ambitious morons?

Per the AP:

… House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement Tuesday evening taking note of the desire of some legislators to visit Afghanistan and saying she was writing to “reiterate that the Departments of Defense and State have requested that Members not travel to Afghanistan and the region during this time of danger. Ensuring the safe and timely evacuation of individuals at risk requires the full focus and attention of the U.S. military and diplomatic teams on the ground in Afghanistan.”…

Pelosi can’t do much about Meijer, but I’m sure she’s got a very special ‘reward’ lined up for Rep. Moulton. (TBH, in a less demented timeline, Moulton would be an old-school ‘centrist’ Republican like Bill Weld or Mitt Romney, so his connection to the Democratic Party is purely instrumental and distinctly half-hearted.)

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Doggie Ramp
Next Post: COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Tuesday / Wednesday, Aug. 24-25 »

Reader Interactions

46Comments

  1. 1.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    August 25, 2021 at 12:04 am

    So, I guess the SCOTUS has ordered that Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy is to be reinstated. Is there actually any way to get rid of it? Surely an administration should be able to discontinue previous administration policies and pursue their own

  2. 2.

    Timurid

    August 25, 2021 at 12:07 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): 

    In this case, the Mexicans will just tell them to get stuffed. But in the long term, this is Dredd Scott level insanity. Roberts just crowned himself King.

  3. 3.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 25, 2021 at 12:11 am

    is it geographically accurate to call Moulton the Marblehead from Marblehead? Please?

    Meijer’s family is more than well-to-do

    He is a member of the Meijer family, the founders and owners of the Meijer superstore chain.[5] Meijer was one of ten Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump during Trump’s second impeachment.[6][7]…
    Forbes has recognized his family as one of the wealthiest in Michigan, with a net worth above $6 billion.[8] His financial disclosures list more than $50 million in assets, primarily from a Meijer family trust.[9][10]

  4. 4.

    JaneE

    August 25, 2021 at 12:14 am

    May I suggest that these two be required to find their own way home.

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 25, 2021 at 12:15 am

    Richard M. Nixon @dick_nixon
    Moulton is such a grandstanding little shit he reminds me of Evan Bayh.

    My God, apart from the distraction and the use of resources, how big of a damn fool do you have to be to disrespect in public the President of the United States, and your Speaker who drinks blood for sport? (thread)

  6. 6.

    rikyrah

    August 25, 2021 at 12:15 am

    These two clowns??

  7. 7.

    sdhays

    August 25, 2021 at 12:16 am

    It was unclear how the pair had initially planned to get out of the country…

    Well, I hope someone interviews the first two Afghans who don’t get out on August 31 and asks them what they think of Representatives Moulton and Meijer. Or maybe they can stay behind and get a flight after the Taliban take control of the airport. I’m sure they’d be fine with that, right?

    Fucking assholes.

  8. 8.

    The Dangerman

    August 25, 2021 at 12:20 am

    I was completely certain I would never see anything more ignorant than going for a joyride in the Presidential Limosine while experiencing Covid. That is fucking hard to top.

    Its been topped. I say we leave the fuclers in Afghanistan with 12 bottles water, 56 beers, and a Milky Way.

    (Edited for proper swearing)

  9. 9.

    gwangung

    August 25, 2021 at 12:20 am

    Mouton is a Clown that makes it all too easy for less invested voters to think “Both Sides Are The Same.”

  10. 10.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 25, 2021 at 12:22 am

    Can you imagine having to negotiate with the Taliban to ensure the safe return of Louie Gohmert?

    Hahaha!  NO!

    Because I wouldn’t!

  11. 11.

    dmsilev

    August 25, 2021 at 12:26 am

    Can you imagine having to negotiate with the Taliban to ensure the safe return of Louie Gohmert,

    I dunno, the real question is there anything the Taliban could give us that would be worth taking him back for.

  12. 12.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 25, 2021 at 12:27 am

    @The Dangerman: Fucking hell!  I’d forgotten about the Soviet shitpile mobster conman wanting to see the racist, sexist morons who support him!

  13. 13.

    Fair Economist

    August 25, 2021 at 12:33 am

    Can you imagine having to negotiate with the Taliban to ensure the safe return of Louie Gohmert, or whichever goober wants to succeed to Chuck Grassley’s seat?

    I sure can. Like Danny DeVito’s character when he was first negotiating for the return of his hated wife in Ruthless People.

    “We’ll give you one package of breakfast sausages for their safe return.

    Oh, and the sausages are pork.”

  14. 14.

    StringOnAStick

    August 25, 2021 at 12:37 am

    Somehow I suspect these two thought this stunt would show brave bipartisanship and getting to the heart of the problem. If the media lionizes them for it, well, we already know how crappy they are. This is such tone deaf posturing. Adam must be incandescent with rage about this.

  15. 15.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 25, 2021 at 12:37 am

    Ew, wtf, Seth

  16. 16.

    M31

    August 25, 2021 at 12:38 am

    “Christ, what an asshole.”

    x2

  17. 17.

    Steeplejack

    August 25, 2021 at 12:39 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Pretty good explainer thread here:

    Absolute insanity. SCOTUS’ conservative majority repeatedly cleared away lower court injunctions so that Trump could implement his immigration agenda. Now it lets a single district court judge dictate foreign policy for the Biden administration. This is beyond outrageous.
    https://t.co/APUvqydAfh

    — Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) August 25, 2021

  18. 18.

    Doug R

    August 25, 2021 at 12:42 am

    @dmsilev: I believe O’Henry had a story about that.

  19. 19.

    Steeplejack

    August 25, 2021 at 12:45 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    [. . .] and your Speaker who drinks blood for sport?

    ?

  20. 20.

    mvr

    August 25, 2021 at 12:46 am

    @Steeplejack: ​
     I’m getting close to the view that we should just ignore the Scotus. They’re illegitimate creatures from two centuries back brought to us by illegitimate procedures newly cooked up by a turtle who thinks he deserves to govern.

  21. 21.

    Steeplejack

    August 25, 2021 at 12:47 am

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Well, the negotiation would be how much we have to give them to keep Gohmert.

  22. 22.

    burnspbesq

    August 25, 2021 at 12:52 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Surely an administration should be able to discontinue previous administration policies and pursue their own

    Of course they can. But the Administrative Procedure Act, the relevant parts of which have been in effect since 1947 and are the subject of a huge body of case law, prescribes a process. The District Court ruled (probably incorrectly) that the Biden Administration amendments to the existing rule were arbitrary and capricious. That leaves the door wide open for Biden to do it over and do it right next time.

  23. 23.

    Captain C

    August 25, 2021 at 1:07 am

    @Timurid: The Dred Scott Roberts court.

  24. 24.

    Captain C

    August 25, 2021 at 1:12 am

    @mrmoshpotato: Iit would be like the negotiation scene in Bad Santa:

    Taliban: We’ll give you 20% of all mineral rights if you’ll please just take him back.

    Biden’s negotiator: Half.

    T: A quarter.

    BN: Half.

    T: 30%. Please! He’s driving us nuts!

    BN: Half.

    And so forth…

  25. 25.

    JoyceH

    August 25, 2021 at 1:31 am

    Wait, Leroy Jenkins was staged? Why do I find that so disillusioning?

  26. 26.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    August 25, 2021 at 1:31 am

    Well it’s bothsides stupid at lest on this one. Damn.

  27. 27.

    Viva BrisVegas

    August 25, 2021 at 1:49 am

    @Captain C: Wouldn’t that be Dred Pirate Roberts?

  28. 28.

    HumboldtBlue

    August 25, 2021 at 2:01 am

    @Viva BrisVegas: ​ 

    Or Dred Scot Pirate Roberts

  29. 29.

    bluehill

    August 25, 2021 at 2:02 am

    When even the repubs that went on the border trips, say no thanks, it’s a good sign you’re about to step in it.

  30. 30.

    Mary G

    August 25, 2021 at 2:54 am

    The poor knucklehead who let them onto the plane in the UAE is going to be in a world of hurt. Great security you got there, boys

    ETA: And the fact they are brazenly refusing to apologize to the mighty NANCY SMASH will come back to haunt them.

  31. 31.

    Ten Bears

    August 25, 2021 at 2:56 am

    They had their fifteen seconds of fame …

    It actually reminds me of my favorite biblical quote:

    Matthew 6:5-6:

    When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have their reward.

    What was it Jesus said about puffed-up pontificating pontificaters puffed-up-edly pontificating on street corners? Oh, right, put it in the closet.

  32. 32.

    sab

    August 25, 2021 at 3:44 am

    Gohmert wasn’t going anywhere. He has zippo interest in Afghan refugees. Hopefully those reps who do care will stay home now.. There isn’t time to fix anything.  Just don’t interfere.

  33. 33.

    opiejeanne

    August 25, 2021 at 4:01 am

    @The Dangerman:  Are they still there? I thought they had already come back.

  34. 34.

    Ruckus

    August 25, 2021 at 4:46 am

    @opiejeanne:

    If they haven’t they should be the very last 2 on the on the very last plane and they should have stand on the runway in front of the plane to claim their seats and then climb a rope dropped down from the open door and do so in 10 seconds or less or be left. If they make it into the plane they should get tied up together with the rope and everyone else on the plane gets one swift kick, if they desire.

    That should be almost enough.

  35. 35.

    Matt McIrvin

    August 25, 2021 at 5:07 am

    Moulton annoys me because I agree with him about one thing (his pet cause of building a North Station/South Station rail link through Boston), but he’s so embarrassing otherwise.

  36. 36.

    Anne Laurie

    August 25, 2021 at 5:27 am

    @Matt McIrvin: Moulton annoys me because I agree with him about one thing (his pet cause of building a North Station/South Station rail link through Boston), but he’s so embarrassing otherwise.

    Agreed!  Why can’t he be MA’s best Repub, instead of its worst Democrat?!?

  37. 37.

    Geminid

    August 25, 2021 at 5:44 am

    @Matt McIrvin: Seth Moulton has voted consistently with the Democratic Congressional majority, so you may agree with him on more issues than that rail link.

    Moulton is notorious for the challenge he, Tim Ryan and others made to Nancy Pelosi after the 2018 midterms. In the event, Moulton and his crew voted for Pelosi to be Speaker. Some of the Democrats in Moulton’s district may have held the challenge against him, though, because he won last year’s Democratic primary with only 78% of the vote.

  38. 38.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    August 25, 2021 at 5:50 am

    @Timurid:

    In this case, the Mexicans will just tell them to get stuffed. But in the long term, this is Dredd Scott level insanity. Roberts just crowned himself King

    @burnspbesq:

    Thanks!

    @Steeplejack:

    That thread enraged me. Made me realize that the “rule of law” is a joke in the wrong hands

  39. 39.

    Geminid

    August 25, 2021 at 6:01 am

    @Anne Laurie: Why can’t some liberals accept that the Democratic Party is a coalition of moderates and liberals? Speaker Pelosi can.

  40. 40.

    Morzer

    August 25, 2021 at 6:08 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:  The Marblehead Meathead would seem more accurate.

  41. 41.

    Procopius

    August 25, 2021 at 6:59 am

    Yeah, well, of course “high State Department and Pentagon officials” would not want to let anyone go. Somebody there might talk to them.

  42. 42.

    JeanneT

    August 25, 2021 at 7:21 am

    Well, I guess Meijer is still trying to shore up his reputation with west Michigan Republicans.  They wanted his head when he voted for impeachment, and ever since he’s been working on being a very very knee jerk conservative.

    And here I had had hopes that he was going to be a forerunner of a more sensible Republican party (naive of me, I know).

  43. 43.

    debbie

    August 25, 2021 at 7:30 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Marco’s got real competition now!

  44. 44.

    Geminid

    August 25, 2021 at 8:05 am

    @JeanneT: I’ll be following Meijer’s primary next year. His primary and those of fellow midwestern impeachers Adam Kinzinger (IL) and Anthony Gonzales (OH) will provide some insight into the direction of Republican voters are taking in that region.

    Peter Meijer succeeded Justin Amash, in a district formerly represented by Gerald Ford. The district has been in Republican hands for all but three of the last 95 years, but last year Meijer beat Democrat Hillary Scholten by less than 5%.

  45. 45.

    MontyTheClipArtMongoose

    August 25, 2021 at 10:30 am

    @Timurid: george w. bush tried to warn us about dred scott in 2004…

  46. 46.

    Matt McIrvin

    August 25, 2021 at 10:47 am

    @Geminid: Well, I live in the next district over, so I suppose it’s not up to me.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8

Recent Comments

  • NotMax on Monday Morning Open Thread: Happy Spring Equinox (Mar 20, 2023 @ 8:31am)
  • Another Scott on Monday Morning Open Thread: Happy Spring Equinox (Mar 20, 2023 @ 8:30am)
  • Geminid on Monday Morning Open Thread: Happy Spring Equinox (Mar 20, 2023 @ 8:30am)
  • Mai Naem mobile on Monday Morning Open Thread: Happy Spring Equinox (Mar 20, 2023 @ 8:22am)
  • RedDirtGirl on Monday Morning Open Thread: Happy Spring Equinox (Mar 20, 2023 @ 8:16am)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
Classified Documents: A Primer
State & Local Elections Discussion

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Shop Amazon via this link to support Balloon Juice   

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice Events

5/14  The Apocalypse
5/20  Home Away from Home
5/29  We’re Back, Baby
7/21  Merging!

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!