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Ron Klain, the White House chief of staff, drew mixed reactions on social media late Sunday night when he retweeted a post that called 2021 not “all bad.”
Klain, who is known to stir debate on Twitter, retweeted a column penned by Albert Hunt, the former executive editor of Bloomberg News, which was published in The Hill. The title was, “Let’s Be Honest: 2021 Wasn’t All Bad.”
The White House official retweeted the post, writing, “A look back at 2021!”
Hunt’s column was optimistic but acknowledged the many issues that the administration faced. The coronavirus outbreak has been a challenge for every world government. Hunt wrote that for some, the “most positive development” could be the fact that Donald Trump is no longer residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
FILE: White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain has stirred online debate with recent posts on his Twitter account. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
(Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Hunt said the “economy is humming” with an unemployment rate at 4.2 percent and “total wages, including extra hours of work, are slightly outpacing inflation.” He also pointed out that the Biden administration has been “scandal-free,” before comparing the Trump administration to the Corleone family in “The Godfather,” only “without the skill.”
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“The Biden team is more honest, also more competent,” Hunt wrote.
FILE: President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden participate in an event to call NORAD and track the path of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Building in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
He acknowledged that the withdrawal from Afghanistan “was painful” and “politically costly” for Biden, but his contention is that– after 20 years– there was no chance that there was going to be a “good ending.”
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Klain’s retweet came at a precarious time for many Americans. Omicron infections are raging in the country. The New York Times recently wrote that the new variant “caught the White House off guard” and “cases have far outstripped the government’s ability to make tests available.”
Reuters pointed out that the U.S. has lost more lives to COVID-19 in 2021 than in 2020. Klain did not immediately respond to an after-hours email from Fox News.
His tweet was embraced by Biden supporters who look at the president as a steady leader after what they considered a reckless and cavalier approach to governing by his predecessor.
“A tough year with a very good president,” one person responded.
Biden’s detractors have criticized the president’s response to the crisis on the southern border and the fact that consumers have been facing the fastest inflation in decades, according to Bloomberg.
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They also call the withdrawal from Afghanistan a disaster. Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., told Fox News at the time that there was a “palpable frustration” with Biden’s handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and that foreign leaders were “shocked” at the result.
Biden and his defenders have maintained that leaving Afghanistan was the only option after Trump’s negotiations with the Taliban. They also argue that there was no way the withdrawal could have been handled well, and that the U.S. will still be able to battle terror with “over the horizon” technology, including manned aircraft and drones.
Matt Whitlock, a Republican communicator, retweeted Klain’s post and wrote, “Shoot for the stars.”
Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report
