Last Updated on January 31, 2021
Since January 20, when Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States, pushed over the top, according to many, by credible accusations of widespread voter fraud, Biden has not offered a single media outlet the opportunity to interview him on their terms. Claiming that this is normal behavior, Politico wrote a 1,600 word essay, claiming that all is well when a President hides from the public and forces his aides to speak for him.
“Biden is leaning on doctors and health experts,” on everything COVID-related, Politico informs us. “He’s relying on his Cabinet, economic advisers and other high-ranking administration,” to push his so-called “$2 trillion rescue package” on the American people. “Biden’s press team, meanwhile, is standing in for their boss” on all network and television programs, Politico continues.
Rather than remark about how strange it is for a sitting president to be totally absent from the world stage, Politico celebrates this, simply because it is the opposite of what President Donald Trump would have done.
“It’s one of the more arresting shifts after four years of a president who delighted in torturing the media with sudden pronouncements that often surprised and befuddled his own advisers,” Politico reported.
John Anzalone, the Biden advisor who was apparently ordered to give a convincing story to Politico on the sitting president’s unwillingness or inability to speak to the media, claimed that Biden is simply really good at “delegating,” and this is all part of a wider plan to restore confidence in the White House.
It would appear the plan is failing dramatically.
According to Rasmussen, Biden has been an immensely unpopular president since taking the White House. As of Friday, January 29, only 33% of voters said they strongly approve of his job performance, while 37% said they strongly disapprove. “This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -4,” writes Rasmussen.
Similarly, only 50% of voters offer even lukewarm support for Biden’s job performance, while 45% disapprove.
Still, despite this plan to increase confidence in the White House by hiding the Commander-in-Chief from the public and the media, Politico notes that Biden has not been entirely absent. In their words, “He appeared for brief ceremonies where he signed executive orders and delivered mostly scripted remarks,” and, “He’s taken a handful of questions from the news media.”
Politico then spends 1,143 words of its 1,641 word article venerating Pete Buttigieg, Susan Rice, John Kerry, and – perhaps naturally – Anthony Fauci.
“Biden’s own White House aides are now as ubiquitous as he is, some perhaps even more so,” Politico drooled. “Already, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, domestic policy adviser Susan Rice, economic adviser Brian Deese and climate heads John Kerry and Gina McCarthy have cycled through the White House briefing room to answer questions.”
While Biden was roundly mocked for “hiding in his basement” by conservatives and President Donald Trump throughout the 2020 election, Politico heralds this ability to lay low as a virtue.
“During his own campaign, Biden perfected the act of laying low, to such an extent that Democrats joked he was part of an Avengers-like ensemble rather than a solo act,” Politico huffed.
Only one sentence in the entire 1,600 word article hones in on what many fear may be the real reason for Biden’s conspicuous absence: His age.
“Some, including people close to Biden, say while it’s not a driving factor,” Politico writes. “There is a generational component to his decision not to scramble for attention. At 78, he is the oldest president in history.”
Prior to the election, in a particularly poignant remark considering Biden’s near-total disappearance from the world stage, President Trump joked that, should Biden win, “They are going to put him in a home and other people are going to be running the country.”
President Trump is far from being alone in his concern for Biden’s health. Even Politico has frequently pondered the same question: Will Biden be fit for office?
In 2015, Politico noted that “Joe Biden has slid into depression,” following the death of his son, Beau, as one might expect when tragedy strikes. However, Politico questioned Biden’s mental health more recently as well.
In a recent article about Biden’s inauguration speech, Politico noted what may be evidence of cognitive decline in the 78-year-old president.
According to Politico, Biden once snapped, “I would never say this,” when reviewing a sentence one of his speechwriters wanted to include. Biden was “aghast over the prepared remarks he was reviewing, according to a person in the room during a speech prep session last year.”
Politico writes that Biden demanded the speechwriter tell him, “Where did you get this from?’”
It turns out, as Politico notes, “The aide explained that Biden had just said it in a public speech a couple of weeks earlier,” and had apparently forgotten ever saying it.
It remains unclear of the Biden strategy of, as President Trump described it, “hiding in his basement,” will win over the American people and restore their faith in the White House.
