The events of the last several weeks should have proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Secretary of State Antony Blinken is a pathetic spineless weasel. My apologies to weasels everywhere.

It cannot be forgotten that Blinken stands directly alongside Joe Biden in the line of responsibility for the disasterous withdrawl in Afghanistan. Blinken was a part of the group that insisted on leaving. He then racked up a number of impressive whoppers, including blaming the Americans who got trapped in Afghanistan for not leaving – even though his own State Department was insisting that the embassy would stay open even after the withdrawl. Well, we all know how THAT went down.

It was Blinken who saw an internal cable warning that Afghanistan was going to collapse, and did nothing about it. It was Blinken who admitted that “several thousand” greencard holders have been abandoned in Afghanistan in front of Congress. It was Blinken who blamed the Trump administration for giving them a “deadline,” but not a “plan.” (Hmmm, might have been a good idea to come up with a plan, then, Mr. Secretary?) It was Blinken’s State Department who was going to charge each American $2000 to leave the country until they got severe blowback. It was Blinken’s State Department who has now told anyone wishing to leave Afghanistan that they need to get a visa in ANOTHER COUNTRY first – in essence, please leave Afghanistan so you can leave Afghanistan. What the actual hell is this.

These facts are important to keep remembering when it comes to listening to what comes out of the mouth of Antony Blinken – or from his account on Twitter, or from his State Department. While the buck allegedly stops with Biden (who says that and then points the finger at everyone else), Blinken should be made to shoulder a hefty portion of the blame for his role in the entire disaster.

It’s pretty obvious by now that Blinken was chosen by Biden because he is a yes man. Yes, he will follow Biden’s directives on foreign policy to retreat and surrender American interests – because they match his own ideals. We know that the Biden administration is absolutely timid when it comes to China, the new agreement with Australia and the United Kingdom notwithstanding. We watched Blinken and his team sit like morons during the Alaska summit last March.

And now, we get the joy of watching Blinken chicken out on Twitter when it even comes to paying lip service for a free Hong Kong. Remember Hong Kong, and how China has essentially crushed it? Well, Blinken sent out a tweet – or at least his official account did – and then it got deleted and replaced. There is a noticeable difference in the tone between the two. However, the State Department spokesman, Ned Price, sent out an identical tweet to Blinken’s deleted one, which has stayed up.

State Department spokesman kept his tweet up though: https://t.co/oILSBbhbHN

— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) September 17, 2021

So, what gives here? Blinken is the freaking Secretary of State. A strong statement about the freedom of Hong Kong means more coming from him than it does from the State Department spokesman. According to the screenshots, the first tweet was deleted within three minutes, and then the second one was sent out. Ned Price’s tweet looks to have come about a half an hour later (compensating for the time difference, as Twitter changes it depending on your location/time zone), which was confirmed by Newsweek. They also got a statement from the State Department about what happened:

A State Department spokesperson issued a statement to Newsweek on Friday: “The team that manages the Secretary’s twitter account mistakenly sent the tweet intended to come from the spokesperson. We fixed that error and tweeted from both accounts, speaking out about Hong Kong authorities’ disqualification of pro-democracy district councilors.”

“Suggestions that this administrative change was somehow motivated by political concerns is patently untrue. The tweets affirm—in words and in meaning—that the United States stands with the people of Hong Kong. We urge the PRC to allow the people of Hong Kong to meaningfully participate in their governance,” the spokesperson said.”

Yeah, I’m not really getting the “we stand with Hong Kong” vibe in that second tweet, no matter what the State Department is claiming. Also, let’s note that Blinken apparently does not manage his own Twitter account, even though it bears his name and carries a blue check.

So why does Ned Price get to sound stronger on Hong Kong than Antony Blinken?

A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry in Hong Kong issued a statement on Friday criticizing “irresponsible comments from certain US politicians” and said “no US slanders” would discourage China from ensuring “patriots administering Hong Kong.”

Bingo. We can’t offend China! Ned Price is merely a spokesman, while Blinken carries a “title.” Apparently we have hit our quota for annoying China this week due to the nuclear submarine deal with Australia and Britain, so Team Blinken On Twitter tried to stealth-delete the stronger wording that “mistakenly” ended up on his profile. Uh-huh. Sure.

Yeah, in the grand scheme of things, a single deleted Tweet shouldn’t be a big deal. Unfortunately, it is indicative of a much, much larger issue. Antony Blinken is a foreign policy failure, and I truly hope that the GOP keeps those impeachment charges handy. Should they get control back of the House in 2022, and Blinken is still Secretary of State, that should be the first item of business. Though I bet he would resign rather than be impeached. After all, why be accountable when you can just leave?

Featured image: Antony Blinken in 2015 via Flickr by usbotschaftberlin, cropped, United States government work in the public domain