President Joe Biden is having trouble hiding his frustration with reporters as pressure mounts on him at home over his stalled legislative agenda and abroad due to escalating Russia-NATO tensions over Ukraine.
But Biden’s outbursts, most recently in response to a pair of Fox News correspondents, are at odds with his campaign promise to normalize White House-media relations after former President Donald Trump repeatedly called individuals and organizations the “enemy of the people.”
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Friction between presidents, their aides, and the press “is a tale as old as time,” according to Eric Schultz, a spokesman for former President Barack Obama’s administration. Obama similarly clashed with reporters and outlets.
Yet Schultz defended Biden from Trump-media comparisons. Instead, he was adamant that Biden and his communications team had “full respect for the role journalists play in democracy, the importance of the first amendment, and the value of telling the truth.”
“Reporters, in turn, should look across the political spectrum and be careful about what fights they pick and what’s important to them,” Schultz told the Washington Examiner.
Republicans, however, have already begun citing Biden’s temper as another reason why he is unfit for office before the 2022 midterm elections. They contend that Biden’s anger management has worsened since his “disastrous” second stand-alone White House news conference last week.
“Joe Biden’s press conference went so badly [that it] looks like he’s decided to never answer questions again,” Republican National Committee spokesman Tommy Pigott said. “Given that Biden essentially gave the green light to an invasion of Ukraine and has been wrong about inflation for months, he should be answering more questions, not less.”
Whitney Robertson, a spokeswoman for Republican opposition research firm America Rising, also circulated a memo regarding Biden’s past “rude” or “profane” run-ins with reporters, even voters.
Biden has a tendency to dilute his offhanded comments with sarcasm, describing people as “lovely” or being “a real sweetheart” when he means the opposite. But he has openly insulted correspondents as well, including CNN’s Kaitlan Collins last summer after his highly anticipated summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.
“I’m not confident I’m going to change his behavior. What the hell? What do you do all the time? When did I say I was confident?” he snapped. “If you don’t understand that, you’re in the wrong business.”
Biden’s press drama undermines his sermons concerning the need for greater civility and bipartisanship in Washington. That virtue signaling had forced his hand in parting ways with spokesman TJ Ducklo after Ducklo allegedly threatened a female reporter during Biden’s first month as commander in chief. Biden, though, had begun that process with his increasingly anti-Republican rhetoric during an election year in which he is poised to lose control of Congress and his administration faces domestic and foreign tests.
Whether Biden’s tone and tenor toward the press reflects a broader strategy remains to be seen. Biden’s manner does align with Gallup polling last fall that found slightly more than a third of respondents trust mass media a “great deal” or a “fair amount,” down 4 percentage points from 2020. So like Trump, Biden may have discovered that reporters, particularly those from Fox News, are a useful foil when his average approval rating is net negative 14 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics.
At the same time, anti-press tactics may hinder Biden more than they help him as they weaken contrasts between the incumbent and his predecessor. And barring other accomplishments, that may be Biden’s most potent argument before the midterm election cycle.
Biden has swiped at Fox News reporters twice this week after they pushed him on the prospect of a Russia-Ukraine conflict and for an update on the pandemic-scrambled economy.
“Why are you waiting on Putin to make the first move, sir?” Jacqui Heinrich asked before a White House Science and Technology Council meeting.
“What a stupid question,” Biden replied.
Heinrich’s colleague Peter Doocy then needled Biden days later on whether “inflation is a political liability ahead of the midterms” before a White House Competition Council discussion.
“No, it’s a great asset. More inflation,” Biden quipped. “What a stupid son of a bitch.”
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Biden went on to phone Doocy to apologize, yet White House press secretary Jen Psaki stood by Biden’s remarks to Heinrich. Rather, Psaki insisted that Biden had not dismissed the idea of proactive deterrence against Putin, especially after announcing new Treasury sanctions on Russia and Ukraine security assistance.
