Josh Hawley, Missouri's spotlight-seeking Republican junior senator, offers this theory of why President Joe Biden so bungled the withdrawal from Afghanistan: Biden and his military commanders were too focused on promoting diversity and confronting racism within the ranks. It's a head-spinning non sequitur, but that's how demagoguery works — advancing populist prejudices by tying them, however improbably, to genuine issues. And no one demagogues quite like Hawley.

In a Sept. 23 floor speech, Hawley sharply criticized the lack of planning and competence in the administration's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August, culminating in the swift Taliban takeover and U.S. failure to get all Americans and Afghan allies out safely. This newspaper has repeatedly leveled those very criticisms.

But what does that have to do with the administration's attempt to bring military culture into the 21st century? The short answer is, nothing — except in the eyes of an ambitious senator trying to whip up right-wing extremists and boost his viability as the heir to Trumpism.

Hawley's speech employed the classic fallacy of post hoc ergo propter hoc (after this, therefore because of this) to contrast what the administration was saying about military cultural reform and what was happening in Afghanistan.

On June 11, Hawley noted, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin "talked about the military's urgent support for equity" among the troops, and "one week later, 21 districts and nine provinces had fallen under Taliban control." On June 21, Hawley said, Secretary of State Antony Blinken referenced "diversity," and "the very next day, the Taliban seized the main Afghan trade gateway." On June 23, Hawley noted that the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Gen. Mark Milley, "defended the administration's recent focus on white extremism in the military," and "the very next day, U.S. intelligence assessed that the Afghan government would collapse within six months of our withdrawal."

Those same officials ate breakfast on those days. And look what happened in Afghanistan!

Talking about diversity and confronting white extremism among the troops have nothing to do with a military operation on the other side of the world. But Hawley says it all proves that "Joe Biden and his team were more focused on their culture war than they were on protecting Americans." This from a politician whose entire schtick is about stirring up the culture war — as underscored by this very speech.

Maybe Hawley's own actions can be explained by such random and unrelated factors as well. Perhaps Hawley, then Missouri's attorney general, sued to yank health care from vulnerable Missourians because he was too focused on his hairstyle. Maybe he played his pivotal role in the Jan. 6 Capitol mob attack because his shoes were too tight that day.

And maybe this whole endeavor is just one more example of Hawley playing to the worst prejudices of the right-wing fever swamps and calling it patriotism.

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