Analysis: The Elephant in the Room Reveals Itself After Combative Joe Biden Presser
By Sister Toldjah | Jan 22, 2021 4:45 PM ET
RedState deputy managing editor Jen Van Laar reported Thursday on a awkward moment during Joe Biden’s first official presser when he lashed out at a reporter who asked him if his vaccine goal of 100 million doses in 100 days should be set higher.
“When I announced it you all said it wasn’t possible. C’mon, gimme a break, man. It’s a good start. 100 million,” a clearly agitated Biden said to the reporter as he got up to leave the room.
Not only was Biden quickly ushered away from the press, but you could hear his handlers in the background trying to shoo them away from Biden as though they were pesky insects.
For those who may have missed the moment, watch the video below:
Biden, asked if 100 million vaccines within 100 days is too low of a goal, snaps: “When I announced it you all said it wasn’t possible. Gimme a break. C’mon man.” pic.twitter.com/O7n7jBOjvnThe exchange and what followed were so embarrassing to the “most transparent administration evah” that the White House’s YouTube channel is already trying to memory-hole it.
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 21, 2021
Biden’s staff ordering the press around like a daycare worker would unruly children was reminiscent of at least two other high-profile events involving Biden and his then-vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris last August when, twice in one week, campaign staffers wouldn’t allow a single question to be asked, loudly herding journalists into another room as Biden and Harris exited the stage.
Biden’s handlers treat him – and reporters – this way for two reasons:
1) Message control. Biden has a tendency to go wildly off message when he’s taken off-leash. It’s one of the reasons why his staffers took the opportunity that presented itself last year by keeping him sequestered in his basement. When a candidate is able to participate in an “interview” or another virtual event from the luxury of their home, that makes it much easier for the people around them to control and manipulate the scene – and the questioners – in ways that are more flattering to the candidate. It’s a luxury the media did not often afford to Trump, but did to Biden’s campaign with regularity.
2) To control the beast within. This more than message control is the elephant in the room that reporters don’t like to talk about concerning Joe Biden. As we saw often on the campaign trail over the last two years, Biden has a penchant for losing his cool under tough questions from people at campaign events and even during the occasional interview. The New York Post provides a timely reminder with two of many examples:
At a campaign event in Wilmington, Del., in June 2020, Biden, 78, lashed out when one reporter asked about people, including Trump, who questioned whether he suffered mental deficits — the questioner noting his own mental deterioration at age 65 and asking if Biden had been tested for cognitive decline.Biden was at his most combative with the media when questions about Hunter Biden were asked, like during this contentious exchange:
“You’re a lying dog face,” Biden said, apparently irritated that the reporter kept asking questions as he tried to leave the event, before adding that he was “constantly tested.”
That came after Biden infamously called a college student a “lying dog-faced pony soldier” at a campaign event in New Hampshire in February 2020.
WATCH: Joe Biden explodes when a reporter asks a very simple question:And this one:
"How was your role as Vice President in charge of policy in Ukraine and your son's job in Ukraine, how is that not a conflict of interest?"
Biden: "I'm not going to respond to that!"
What is he hiding? pic.twitter.com/jbycKLARhE
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 4, 2019
I asked Joe Biden: What is your response to the NYPost story about your son, sir?The Biden campaign even threatened lawsuits in 2019 against any network or Big Tech outlet that dared to run any Trump campaign ads that mentioned Hunter Biden’s questionable overseas business dealings.
He called it a “smear campaign” and then went after me. “I know you’d ask it. I have no response, it’s another smear campaign, right up your alley, those are the questions you always ask.” pic.twitter.com/Eo6VD4TqxD
— Bo Erickson CBS (@BoKnowsNews) October 17, 2020
A year later, many obedient “news” outlets and social media platforms actively suppressed the New York Post’s blockbuster report on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Simply put, for all the talk about how Trump had a short fuse and treated the press, very few in the mainstream media – including media firefighters like CNN’s Brian Stelter and Oliver Darcy – give any attention to how Biden and his team will cut the media off at the knees if they don’t like their lines of questioning or otherwise don’t want to be bothered:
A lot of people don't realize that Biden is consistently very nasty to reporters who ask any kind of challenging question. It gets swept under the rug partly because he almost never receives a challenging question. https://t.co/ADeTIAi0U9
— Caleb Hull (I'm With the CCP Don't Ban Me) (@CalebJHull) January 21, 2021
But you won't see Brian Stelter whine about how this is an attack on the free press.Nope, you certainly will not, because to media “gatekeepers” like Stelter, the goals of CNN more often than not match the goals of Democratic presidential administrations: They want to control what you get to hear. It’s easier to set narratives that way. He’s said as much:
— Caleb Hull (I'm With the CCP Don't Ban Me) (@CalebJHull) January 21, 2021
You aren't "protecting the public." You sanitize the news in a way that benefits your preferred candidate. Stop trying to delude people. https://t.co/UzDPzYcYi3The media “built this” by running interference for and allowing Biden and his campaign to get by with limiting the candidate’s time with reporters under the guise of “being safe in the midst of the pandemic.” They also “built this” by way of how they routinely treat Democrats with kid gloves. After a while, Democrats get used to it and expect to be shown the utmost reverence and deference.
— Sister Toldjah, VP of BS Detection 😁 (@sistertoldjah) October 12, 2020
And in the rare instances they’re not, Democrats either voice or display their displeasure in ways that need no translation.
So while I’m not inclined to have too much sympathy for the media’s plight in light of the fact that Biden and his staff are clearly treating having to answer questions as an optional thing, I will offer a memo of sorts for any of them willing to listen:
Memo to the media: When you coddle Democrats and treat them as though they’re above having to answer uncomfortable questions, you reap what you sow, and you more than earn the harsh criticisms you get from people like me. Y’all made this bed, and now you get to wallow in it.
Flashback –>> Fed up Journalist Shreds NYT’s Deceptive Portland Reporting: ‘This Is Why Faith in Media Continues to Plummet’
Sister Toldjah
North Carolina-based Sister Toldjah, a former liberal, has been writing about media bias, social issues, and the culture wars since 2003. Follow her on Twitter here, and on Parler here.
