Biden Mocks Reporters Trying To Ask Him Questions
It has become painfully obvious thus far in his administration that President Joe Biden is not interested, or perhaps not capable, of responding to tough questions from the media.
On multiple occasions, he has let his animosity toward reporters show through acts of ridicule or derision. Most recently, he openly mocked a group of journalists gathered at the White House during a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzon on Wednesday.
As reporters shouted questions at him, Biden mouthed back at them in an apparent attempt to mimic their behavior.
White House staff reportedly ushered the reporters out of the room without providing answers to their various queries.
Of course, this was hardly the first time that Biden has dismissed or denounced members of the press for daring to do their jobs.
Earlier this month, he suggested that reporters were acting improperly by shouting out questions following an address related to abortion, declaring: “They’re among the only press in the world that does this. Seriously. Seriously.”
Within the span of a month earlier this year, he used the term “stupid” in reference to a question asked by Fox News Channel’s Jacqui Heinrich as well as to describe Peter Doocy, the network’s White House correspondent. He also added an expletive to his description of Doocy.
Biden’s disdain for the media is not limited to just Fox News, though. Last year, he chided CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins for her question about the perceived success of his summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“If you don’t understand that, you’re in the wrong business,” the president shot back.
Aside from a few mostly softball interviews in recent weeks, Biden has generally avoided media events — including press conferences.
As of the end of last month, he had participated in a paltry 42 interviews. For the sake of comparison, former Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama had done 143 and 231, respectively, by the same point in their terms.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre fielded a question from a reporter this week regarding why Biden has been so reluctant to hold a press conference.
“I understand the question,” she said. “You guys have to ask the question about press conferences. Duly noted, and so we appreciate the question.”
She went on to claim that, despite evidence to the contrary, Biden does regularly respond to reporters.
