Considering how he conducted his front porch — err, basement — campaign throughout 2020, it’s perhaps no surprise President Joe Biden hasn’t held a solo press conference since assuming office.
After weeks of public pressure, it was announced Tuesday afternoon that Biden will hold his first press conference March 25.
The Biden presidency surely marks a stark difference from former President Donald Trump, who frequently held impromptu question-and-answer sessions and chimed in constantly on Twitter.
The 46th president rarely engages with the press corps, and when questions are asked of him during scripted events, he gives laconic answers or awkwardly avoids discourse altogether.
Perhaps in honor of Wednesday marking eight weeks of absenteeism — the longest in over a century — Biden will sit down with pseudo-journalist George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America. The main focus will be the so-called “COVID relief bill,” which many believe is not a relief bill.
I’d prefer not to speculate on the president’s mental acuity or physical stature. But should we wonder if this will occur for four years?
I don’t prefer a workaholic president (Ronald Reagan wasn’t), and Biden will continue to use COVID-19 as an excuse to avoid travel and meetings — even as cases plummet.
With a dangerous authoritarian waiting in the wings, we pray for the president’s health; but even at 78, the fragility we see is concerning for someone occupying the highest office on earth.
Intellectually lazy media can fawn over “empathy” and government edicts from last week’s prime-time speech, while ignoring lies even the New York Times noticed; reliably pro-Biden outlets now seek a solo press conference.
The Washington Post recently urged the president to take the stage, claiming in part, “Americans have every right to expect that [the president] will regularly submit himself to substantial questioning.”
A few days later this view was couched a tad, by noting news conferences are “high risk, low reward.”
By this point in their terms, Trump had given five news conferences; Barack Obama had offered two; George W. Bush three; and Bill Clinton five.
“From essentially March until November, they got glove treatment by the press, and I suspect they think they can get away with it,” Karl Rove said Sunday. “I think this is a mistake, though, because they’re raising the expectations, not only of the media, but the ordinary Americans are looking at this and saying, why is the guy not able to hold a news conference, why is he not able to do an interview?”
Asked about the situation, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki claimed there are other pertinent issues.
“His focus is on getting recovery and relief to the American people and he looks forward to continuing to engage with all of you and to other members of the media who aren’t here today, and we’ll look forward to letting you know as soon as the press conference is set,” she said.
Yes, the road trip to sell their $2 trillion boondoggle is on. First Lady Jill Biden kicked off the tour Monday in her native New Jersey, with the president in suburban Philadelphia Tuesday and Atlanta Friday. The vice president, who hasn’t spoken to a legitimate press outlet since being tapped over seven months ago, is gallivanting out West.
“Normally, you don’t have to defend recent legislation if it’s ‘wildly popular,'” a GOP insider told Alpha News. “The Biden team is defending it because they know the bill is not that popular, and the real reason for the victory tour is a disinformation campaign to essentially buy votes in the most egregious, public, unrepentant way possible.”
No administration official will be near the increasingly chaotic southern border. While Biden’s administration pretends no crisis exists, a 13-member Republican House delegation toured a sector in El Paso Monday, where they found “human heartbreak” and “a crisis of tremendous proportions,” due to lax immigration policies.
A.J. Kaufman
A.J. Kaufman is an Alpha News columnist. His work has appeared in the Baltimore Sun, Florida Sun-Sentinel, Indianapolis Star, Israel National News, Orange County Register, St. Cloud Times, Star-Tribune, and across AIM Media Midwest and the Internet. Kaufman previously worked as a school teacher and military historian.
