Joe Biden will be delivering his first press conference today. It's about time.
All eyes will be on the oldest president in American history. We'll all be watching to see if he has a verbal slip-up or even an actual physical slip-up like he had on the stairs of Air Force One last week. Will he read from cards? Will he have questions in advance? Will he have a list of pre-approved reporters to call on?
One thing is certain: It will be a far cry from the free-wheeling, no-holds-barred kind of event we witnessed during the Trump Administration. President Trump would stay at the podium for hours, fielding any question from anyone. His responses were off-the-cuff and would often raise even more questions than the entire press conference contained in the first place.
Yes, all eyes will be on Biden, but my eyes will be on the reporters. Anything less than the hard-hitting, antagonistic stance the White House press pool engaged in on a daily basis with President Trump will be a complete and utter disaster and total professional malpractice.
But my hopes aren't high.
At his first formal presser, President Trump's first questions were about the recent resignation of his National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn. We know now the charges against Flynn were trumped up, and the effort to force an investigation of the retired general bordered on entrapment.
His second round of questions at this inaugural press conference was related to the fake conspiracy theory known as "Russian collusion."
Several questions in, Trump was still fielding questions like: "I just want to get you to clarify because it’s a very important point, can you say definitively say that nobody on your campaign had any contacts with the Russians during the campaign, and on the leaks, is it fake news or are these real leaks?"
Of course, if you look at the question, it is impossible for anyone to "say definitively" that nobody on their campaign had any contacts with anyone anywhere because nobody knows, definitively, what other people may or may not do in an organization of hundreds of people. As Trump knew, the question is a trap.
But that's the point. The purpose of the question and the press conference was to trap Trump, not to learn information about the administration's policies that would inform the American public of the machinations of the federal government.
This brings us to today's Biden press conference. Will reporters pepper him with questions related to the many scandals already brewing around this administration? Will they use their "sacred role" to "speak truth to power" and wrangle this president into the same angry, confrontational debate we saw in Trump's first press conference?
Doubtful.
If they had any smidgen of consistency or integrity, we'd hear questions like this (with an assist from David Harsanyi):
You've bragged that you influenced the Ukrainian government to fire State Prosecutor Victor Shokin. Did you know, at that time, Shokin was investigating Burisma, the company that paid your son hundreds of thousands of dollars for a seat on their board?
You've said you knew nothing about your son's business dealings, but we know now that State Department officials in the Obama Administration raised questions with the White House about this in 2015? Did you know about that at the time?
You said that press reports about your son's laptop which contained damning information about his dealings with foreign governments was "Russian disinformation." We know now that your son is the subject of a federal criminal investigation, and this laptop is a key piece of evidence in the investigation. Do you still believe this is "Russian disinformation"?
When you were vice president, your son's business associates arranged a meeting with you and two members of the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese billionaires. What did you discuss at this meeting?
Your son's business partner says you were "The Big Guy" and that you would get a 10% share of many of their dealings with foreign businesses. Have you ever received any money from your son's business activities? Is there any money being held anywhere on your behalf as a result of your son's overseas business arrangements?
Since this laptop and the emails it contains have been in the news since October, have you asked your son anything about this story? Have you asked him about the investigation into his dealings? Have you asked anyone in the FBI or the Justice Department about the investigation?
When the story of your son's laptop first emerged, social media outlets censored any reference to the stories and blocked any links to the New York Post, which first reported the story. Now we know that the story was completely factual. In the name of a free press and the First Amendment, did social media companies do the right thing by censoring and blocking access to these stories?
When you were vice president, did you ever suggest that anyone be investigated for violating the Logan Act?
Before reversing the Trump Administration's policies at the border and the Remain in Mexico policy for asylum requests, did any career Homeland Security or Immigration official warn you or your administration of the repercussions that we are seeing occur right now at the border?
Your administration's policy at the border is to allow any unaccompanied child to enter the country and remain here until their asylum claims can be adjudicated. How many children should be allowed to enter the country in this manner? One million? Two million? Ten million?
Considering your current border policies and your asylum program in the immigration reform bill you have proposed, why should any foreign national in any country anywhere in the world attempt to follow American laws and legally immigrate to this country?
How many genders are there?
Can you define "male" and "female"?
Did the wind blow you over the other day?
Are you on any medications? If so, can you name them?
I could go on and on... this is just scratching the surface. Do you think any reporter will ask any of these questions? Anything even close?
Of course not. And that's why you come here to Townhall and are a VIP member. Thank you for supporting our corner of the Internet and our effort to continue honest journalism. We will continue to hold this president accountable, and we will treat him in the same way the legacy media treated President Trump. I mean, it's only fair. It's also our "sacred duty" as journalists in America. Speak truth to power, right? Right.
Larry O'Connor hosts a 2-hour radio program on KABC in Los Angeles and a separate 3-hour radio program on WMAL in Washington, DC. Both shows are heard daily, Monday through Friday, and the podcasts can be found here.