An estimated 67.1 million people watched Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump’s first presidential debate across 17 television networks. This number significantly exceeded the 51 million people who watched the Republican nominee face President Joe Biden in June.
In Tuesday’s highly anticipated debate with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, Republican nominee for president Donald Trump claimed to have sent a Taliban leader dubbed ‘Abdul’ a picture of his own house in 2021. This assertion set off an online meme frenzy.
During the extensively televised debate, Trump recalled his role as President in negotiations with the Taliban prior to the US troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. He claimed to have sent a photo, likely posing as a threat, to Abdul, a Taliban leader, asking him to stop ordering his snipers to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan.
“He remains the Taliban’s leader. And I warned Abdul not to do it any longer because if he does, he would run into issues. “Why do you send me a picture of my house?” he asked. Abdul, I told you that you would have to work that out on your own. & we had no deaths for eighteen months,” Trump remarked during the debate.
Significantly, Trump may have been referring to Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of the Taliban’s negotiators with the United States; nevertheless, Hibatullah Akhundzada has been the leader of the organization since 2016.
Many people consider the US military’ 2021 pullout from Afghanistan to be a failure of the Biden administration, particularly in light of the suicide bombing that claimed the lives of 13 soldiers.
Social media users flocked the internet with memes after Trump’s remark.
On X, someone commented, “Can we go back to why Trump sent a guy named Abdul a picture of his house now that the dust has settled?”
“I wonder if Trump really gonna send Abdul that picture of his house tho?” asked another commenter.
A third person made fun of Donald Trump by sharing a video with the caption, “This what happens when Trump shows #Abdul his house.”
An estimated 67.1 million people watched Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump’s first presidential debate across 17 television networks. This number significantly exceeded the 51 million people who watched the Republican nominee face President Joe Biden in June.
