Morning Joe’s Promotes Taliban’s Argument Against Drone Strikes—They’re ‘Cowardly’
I don’t know about you, but when considering how our country should fight its conflicts, I like to follow the advice of our enemies–like the Taliban. Well, maybe not. But that was the approach taken today by Morning Joe. Asked to comment on the controversy surrounding the September 2nd drone strike on drug smugglers, MS NOW’s Senior National Security Reporter David Rohde said: “I’ll be honest, in Afghanistan, the Taliban saw drone strikes as cowardly– that American forces weren’t willing to come fight them face to face on the ground.” The irony is that, just seconds earlier, Jonathan Lemire said that yesterday: “The Signalgate inspector general’s report was made public. Pete Hegseth looks bad there as well, in terms of, as it was put, that he was putting American military personnel at risk by sharing these war plans on Signal.” We agree that putting American military personnel at risk unnecessarily is bad. But Rohde/Morning Joe/MS NOW apparently believe that putting American military personnel at risk is the way to go! Take the Taliban’s advice, America: come out and fight like a man! Don’t resort to those cowardly drone strikes! We say that when confronting a foe, take the Indiana Jones approach: don’t engage on his terms — use the most advanced weaponry available. Note: Interestingly, Rohde, while working on a book, was kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan in November 2008 and held captive for over seven months, until he and a colleague escaped. Yet here he was today promoting the Taliban’s view of the American military. Did David suffer a form of Stockholm Syndrome, in which he came to identify with his captors? Here’s the transcript. MS NOW Morning Joe 12/5/25 6:18 am ET JONATHAN LEMIRE: We have heard Republicans, including some on our air, like Congressman Turner yesterday from the House Armed Services Committee, suggesting, look, Congress has not signed off on these attacks. We would have real reluctance if the president were to escalate them on land. But yet, there hasn’t actually been much of a mechanism, David Rohde, for the Congress to step in and to try to, beyond what we saw yesterday, to really get to the bottom of this. And we have, you know, and the timing of this shouldn’t be lost. This, the examination, the close scrutiny that this strike, the September 2nd strike has received, also comes on the same day that the Signalgate Inspector General’s report was made public. Pete Hegseth looks bad there as well, in terms of, you know, as it was put, that he was putting American military personnel at risk by sharing these war plans on Signal, inadvertently, with a journalist. And yet, we have him on social media yesterday doing a performative victory lap and sort of strutting about, like, look, I’m under this pressure, but we’re just going to push the button and hit another boat. DAVID ROHDE: And I’ll be honest, in Afghanistan, the Taliban saw drone strikes as cowardly — that American forces weren’t willing to come fight them face-to-face on the ground. LEMIRE: Yes. ROHDE: And not that, you know, it’s going to make the drug traffickers angry, but it’s just this idea that our technology, and just wiping out people are all going to roll over and give up. Continue reading Morning Joe’s Promotes Taliban’s Argument Against Drone Strikes—They’re ‘Cowardly’
