From testy conversations with reporters to outright silence, the pressure of Joe Biden’s US presidential election battle with Donald Trump appears to be straining his relationship with the media.
Although the 81-year-old Biden has never shown his predecessor’s outright hostility toward journalists, it appears the Democrat has recently lost his cool with the press.
His increasing irritability coincides with a recent wave of polls showing him trailing his scandal-tainted Republican rival with less than six months until the Nov. 5 election.
The most recent example was a cranky exchange with a reporter at a White House news conference Thursday with visiting Kenyan President William Ruto.
Biden appealed to a reporter who asked “two questions, if I may” – to which Biden responded sharply: “No. A.”
There was laughter in the gilded East Room, but when the reporter tried his luck with his second question, Biden made it clear he wasn’t joking.
“You’ll never honor the deal, but that’s OK,” Biden said.
– Lock up –
Subsequently, there is regular criticism of the media, which, according to Biden and his campaign, exaggerates the polls that show him doing poorly.
“While the press doesn’t want to write about it, the momentum is clearly in our favor,” Biden said at a fundraiser at former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s home in California.
Hours later, he repeated his criticism of the press almost word for word at an event in Seattle.
When reporters asked the following weekend how he celebrated Mother’s Day as he left church in Delaware, Biden joked, “I prayed for all of you.”
Just as telling, Biden — who has given few major news conferences since taking office and only rarely gives interviews — is cowering even more.
Until recently, he would stop at the White House or under the wing of Air Force One on the way to his helicopter to answer questions, but those exchanges have largely stopped.
That’s partly because Biden has been surrounded by aides in recent months as he walked to the helicopter — itself part of a White House strategy to distract from his increasingly unsteady gait amid what he says is an unfair focus on the media at his age. of Trump, who is only four years younger.
Biden’s frustration has only grown as a series of recent polls show Trump leading him in many key battleground states, despite the Republican spending much of his time in a criminal hush-money lawsuit.
A New York Times/Siena survey found Trump leading by double digits in two states Biden won in 2020: Nevada and Georgia.
Biden and his campaign insist that modern polls do not accurately reflect the situation, overestimating support for Trump among people who may not actually vote.
– ‘All ready’ –
But the recent trickle of bad polling is particularly painful for Biden, as it reverses a slight increase since a bravura State of the Union address in March.
During that time, his campaign employed a “Let Joe Be Joe” strategy, where, instead of protecting a president long famous for his blunders, he went hard on the campaign trail and stepped up frontal attacks on “loser” Trump.
Biden’s stance is reflected in his campaign, which has fueled criticism of the media for failing to notice the positive economic data on employment and growth.
The White House has openly said they are exploring new avenues such as social media, including TikTok, to reach the many voters who no longer rely on traditional TV and print media for their news.
Biden would also be far from the first president who turns out not to be a fan of the press. From Abraham Lincoln to Barack Obama, many presidents have sought ways to sidestep reporting they believe is unfair.
Biden will have a major opportunity to do just that and speak directly to voters during the first of two scheduled presidential debates with Trump on June 27.
His campaign says it’s done, and released an ad Friday, narrated by Hollywood legend Robert De Niro, to start the build-up.
“Joe Biden will hold Donald Trump accountable,” campaign chairman Jen O’Malley Dillon said. “And he’s raring to go.”
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