Lloyd Austin, Biden’s Secretary of Defense, had to be hospitalized. Austin formally empowered his deputy before the procedure. This is now the third time since October 7th that Austin has been out of commission due to his health.
Austin came under heavy scrutiny when he underwent surgery previously. In a bizarre series of events, Austin failed to communicate his absence to the White House and his own deputy. The timing for this mistake was particularly poor, since conflicts were breaking out in Yemen and Gaza to name a few. The Guardian reports:
Joe Biden’s top military adviser, Lloyd Austin, has been hospitalized because of an “emergent bladder issue”, and has transferred his duties to deputy secretary of defense Kathleen Hicks.
The defense secretary’s admission to Walter Reed national military medical center was announced early Sunday evening, with the Pentagon outlining his condition in a statement.
Beyond hiding his unavailability to the White House, Austin has also not faced any scrutiny for the bungled retreat from Afghanistan. The President and his team have not elaborated a clear strategy for America’s future, or what they would change. The NY Times continues:
Mr. Austin came under widespread criticism last month when he went to the hospital for several days for treatment for complications related to a recent prostate cancer surgery. He had initially kept his hospital visit a secret from top administration officials, including President Biden, the White House national security adviser, the secretary of state and senior officials in the Pentagon, including those immediately under him in the office.
Mr. Austin also had not informed the president that he had undergone the original surgery in December.
Unlike Biden and his Administration, Trump’s foreign policy ideals are highly unorthodox. In practice, Trump’s foreign policy differed little from previous Presidents, as deep-state bureaucrats actually enforce it. However, his flexibility has set America’s reputation as something to contend with rather than something to milk for resources.
READ NEXT: GOP Congressman Pays Dearly for Supporting Democrats
