If there has been one thing true about the Beltway's media's coverage of the situation in Afghanistan, it has been that it is badly disconnected from the broader public's opinion on the matter.
Americans have largely reached their conclusions about Afghanistan, and those opinions are not in synch with the sort of commentariat that Josh Marshall accurately describes here. When I look at the five "main stories" being read and shared at WaPo there are four stories on Covid and one on Hurricane Henri. At the Times, the top two stories are Covid, one is about Silicon Valley and two on Afghanistan.
When I think about this dynamic, I think about the month I was married, 23 years ago. It was the Summer of Impeachment in 1998, and Clinton's deposition with "It depends on what the meaning of 'is' is." The reality is that people had made up their mind about the situation. As breathless as DC media was about Clinton, it never landed. A similar dynamic seems to be at play with Afghanistan. We knew who Clinton was by 1998, and we know what Afghanistan is like in 2021.
I don't know what it is about August that creates this dynamic, but polling is also remarkably inaccurate during this month. That makes sense as people are on vacation or gearing up for Back to School. They aren't answering pollsters.
The most important story in America right now is Covid/Delta. I'm not saying that because of my personal experience, I'm saying that because it's true. The Fox Universe can flog Afghanistan and Biden's impeachment over it (seriously...) but the majority of people are most concerned with the fact that Delta is out of control in large parts of the country and history suggests it will move north with cooler weather and the return to school.
It is remarkable that journalists can't see that.
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