Now that power is about to be peacefully transferred, Americans can all expect to hear from a president who actually speaks for himself. A novel concept, for sure.
The public rarely heard from President Joe Biden unaided by a teleprompter. Press conferences became foreign concepts. Here’s a juxtaposition: In Donald Trump’s final year in office, he held 35 solo press conferences. In Biden’s final year, he held exactly zero solo pressers. His handlers wouldn’t even let him do one on the way out the door.
So, with the absentee president being shielded from the public, or off on another long weekend in Delaware, the face of the administration became Karine Jean-Pierre in the final two-and-a-half years after taking over for the pious Jen Psaki, who ran off to the very friendly confines of MSNBC.
Let’s be fair: Defending Biden, who exits the Oval Office with a 36% approval rating, is an almost-impossible task, especially after his brain appeared to turn into applesauce. But at least Psaki could lie, er, think on her feet, when the questions got tough from Fox News Channel’s Peter Doocy and Jacqui Heinrich. KJP possessed no such ability, leading to these dubious moments in our Top Five Cringe Moments for the outgoing White House Press Secretary.
5. ‘Right? Right?’
After Biden argued that the way to bring down inflation is to make corporations pay their fair share in taxes, Doocy asked, ‘How does raising taxes on corporations lower the cost of gas, the cost of a used car, the cost of food, for everyday Americans?’
What followed was like listening to a college sophomore putting together a stream of consciousness in order to achieve a mandatory word count on a verbal book report. Here was the answer verbatim, per the official White House transcript.
‘So, look, I think we encourage those who have done very well — right?’ Jean-Pierre began. ‘Especially those who care about climate change, to support a fairer tax — tax code that doesn’t change — that doesn’t charge manufacturers’ workers, cops, builders, a higher percentage of their earnings; that the most fortunate people in our nation — and not let the — that stand in the way of reducing energy costs and fighting this existential problem, if you think about that as an example, and to support basic collective bargaining rights as well, right? That’s also important. But look, it is — you know, by not — if — without having a fairer tax code, which is what I’m talking about, then all — every — like manufacturing workers, cops — you know, it’s not fair for them to have to pay higher taxes than the folks that — who are — who are — who are not paying taxes at all or barely have.’
No matter how many times she injected ‘right?’ into her Kamala-esque word salad, we still couldn’t find an answer in there to the question about how raising taxes on corporations lowers inflation.
4. Election denier
We’ve been warned by Democrats that denying election results is a chilling threat to democracy itself. So it was odd to see KJP chosen to be White House press secretary, because she’s an election denier herself.
‘Stolen election … welcome to the world of #unpresidented Trump,’ she tweeted after the 2016 election.
‘Trump always finds a way to take it to the lowest of lows. Not only is he a petulant dotard but also a deplorable illegitimate president,’ was her sentiment in 2017.
‘Reminder: Brian Kemp stole the gubernatorial election from Georgians and Stacey Abrams,’ she said of Abrams’s gubernatorial loss to Republican Brian Kemp in 2018.
That’s arctic chilling stuff. When Doocy noted KJP’s objections to Donald Trump’s complaints about the 2020 election and noted these tweets, she became the dictionary definition of ‘defensive.’
‘Let’s be really clear. That comparison that you made is just ridiculous,’ Jean-Pierre replied. ‘I was talking specifically at the time about what was happening with voting rights, and what was in danger of voting rights.’
Let’s be clear: No you weren’t, Karine.
3. ‘I can square that’
After Trump’s victory on Nov. 5, Heinrich asked Jean-Pierre a solid question around pre-election fearmongering vs. post-election assurances:
‘This administration messaged to millions of Americans that they’re going to wake up the day after the election if Trump won and have their rights stripped away, that democracy would crumble. And the president said today, ‘We’re going to be okay.’ So how do you square that?’ Heinrich asked the press secretary.
‘I can square that,’ Jean-Pierre said. ‘I’m going to square that in a way that hopefully makes sense, because I’ve been answering this question multiple times (author’s note: she hadn’t answered the question multiple times to that point).
‘The American people made the decision,’ she continued. ‘There was an election two nights ago. There was! And it was a free and fair election, and we respect the election process. We do. And Americans spoke.’
‘What is the message to people who are fearful based on what the messaging was about [Trump]?’ asked Heinrich.
‘Well, now you’re just twisting everything around, and that’s really unfair,’ a flustered KJP responded. ‘Jackie, it’s unfair because I’ve been standing here trying to be very respectful to what happened the last two nights, two nights ago. Being respectful. I’ve been standing here saying that we respect the decision that the American people made.’
Instead of squaring Biden’s statements, KJP just talked in circles.
2. ‘Shouted questions’
When asked in 2023 if the people around Biden were trying to ‘protect’ the aging president from the press by not allowing him to answer direct questions, Jean-Pierre began spinning at ludicrous speed.
‘The President many times has stood in front of all of you, has taken questions on his own, because he wanted to see what was on — on your minds, he wanted to see what the questions you all were going to ask him, and he wanted to answer them directly,’ she claimed before eventually adding, ‘I’ll say this: It is also unprecedented that a president takes as many shouted questions as this president has. And he has.’
Oh, please. Whenever reporters are invited into the Biden Oval Office, they were screamed out of the room by the president’s handlers at what would normally be Q&A time. And ‘shouted questions’ are the ones Biden never answered as he shuffled away.
1. ‘No, no, no, no, no, you can’t’
When Doocy challenged the KJP in September, 2023, on her outlandish claim that the border was under control, she tried to blame the Republicans.
‘What do you call it here at the White House when 10,000 people illegally cross the border in a single day?’ Doocy asked.
‘So what do you call it, Peter, when [the] GOP puts forth a … wait, no, no, no, no, no, you can’t,’ Jean-Pierre responded as Doocy attempted to redirect the press secretary back to reality.
‘You’re answering my question with a question,’ Doocy noted.
‘OK, we’re going to move on,’ Jean-Pierre said, without any explanation as to why.
After the briefing, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) called out the White House for its apathy.
‘Joe Biden doesn’t seem to care. Karine Jean-Pierre doesn’t seem to care. And I know [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas] doesn’t care because we’ve asked him tons of questions, asked for information and data that he refuses to get to us,’ Jordan argued.
‘So this is the state of this administration. And it’s frankly, why I think the approval ratings of Joe Biden are so darn low, because they see what a pathetic job this administration has done,’ he added.
Karoline Leavitt will be the next White House press secretary. At 27, she will be the youngest to ever hold the position. Leavitt has promised to allow more access to non-traditional reporters and bloggers and even potentially podcasters in an effort to end the White House Correspondents Association’s monopoly on the James S. Brady Briefing Room.