Newsmax host Grant Stinchfield absolutely lost his mind Wednesday night when a veteran helping Americans and Afghan allies flee Afghanistan offered the mildest of criticism of former President Donald Trump.
Joe Saboe, an Iraq War veteran who recently founded the rescue organization Team America, appeared on Stinchfield’s eponymous Newsmax program to discuss his group’s efforts in assisting those looking to escape Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover.
The first few minutes of the interview went fairly cordially, as Saboe explained how his group’s “digital Dunkirk” effort has helped hundreds of people get out of the country after Kabul fell last month. At the same time, he openly disagreed with Stinchfield’s claim that the small number of Americans still stuck in Afghanistan constituted a “hostage situation,” largely blaming the issue on coordination problems between the State Department and Taliban.
ADVERTISEMENT
Eventually, the vehemently pro-Trump Newsmax host began prodding Saboe to criticize the Biden administration for the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and the evacuation crisis that followed.
“I think you and I can both agree this never needed to happen. If the government knew what it was doing, we wouldn’t have Americans in this situation,” Stinchfield said.
“Yeah, I agree with that,” Saboe replied. “I think multiple administrations leading up to this had multiple opportunities to try to set this up for success. And I think that’s not happened, and right now we as a country need to come together and help these people, our allies.”
Stinchfield, meanwhile, took that as an opportunity to heap more praise upon his MAGA icon, saying that “this didn’t happen under President Trump” even though Trump “wanted out of Afghanistan real bad.” He then added that the ex-president didn’t pull out of Afghanistan because “he knew this would happen.” (The Trump administration negotiated the peace agreement with the Taliban in Feb. 2020, which included a promise to reduce troops and eventually withdraw completely by May 1, 2021. It’s also been reported that Trump tried to fully withdraw by Jan. 15 of this year.)
The Newsmax star reiterated that he believes “this is a hostage situation,” and declared his respect for the work Saboe has done in getting Americans out of the country. But the tone wildly shifted as soon as the former Army captain brought up the fact that Trump drastically decreased the number of special immigrant visas given to Afghan allies.
“With due respect, Grant, that veterans—and I being one—and our friends are over there,” Saboe said. “We follow this closely from multiple administrations, and we know that Trump administration’s efforts here were fairly weak, that they were trying to limit the number of people that would get out and so there were coordination problems.”
An enraged Stinchfield immediately attempted to interject, first claiming they were running short on time before seemingly losing his temper and demanding producers ditch Saboe’s feed.
“Cut him off, please. Cut him off now! Cut him off now,” the conservative host shouted. “You’re not going to blame this on President Trump on my show!”
While pointing his finger at the camera, Stinchfield continued to scream, "I appreciate the work that you’re doing. God bless you for being a veteran, god bless you for trying to get Americans out, but don’t come on this program and take the talking points of the left and blame President Trump! That’s not helping anybody.”
The former NRA-TV host would continue his tirade a while longer—despite previously claiming he was out of time. He complained that Saboe didn’t call Americans stuck in Afghanistan “hostages” while lecturing the war veteran, whom he had just kicked off the air, for not fully blaming the entire situation on the Biden administration.
“I’m mad about that, man. I really am!” Stinchfield fumed in conclusion.
