After kicking off Wednesday's White House press briefing with an acknowledgement of International Overdose Awareness Day, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre suddenly did not want to talk about the topic when it came up in a question.
After so-called "rainbow fentanyl" that looks similar to sweet tarts was found in 18 states — designed to look appealing to young people and children — Fox News' Peter Doocy asked what the Biden administration was doing to address the worsening fentanyl crisis in America.
"We just talked about the day, the overdose awareness day, that we are observing today," Jean-Pierre responded in yet another example of how the Biden administration thinks it can say something and move on without taking any concrete action to address the issue (see also: inflation).
DOOCY: "Rainbow fentanyl, which is designed to target children, has been found in 18 states. What specifically is the president doing about this?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 31, 2022
KJP: "We just talked about 'Overdose Awareness Day' that we are observing today..." pic.twitter.com/LtKjhYvrbc
Biden's press secretary also claimed that the administration would "continue to focus on the steps that we're taking" as the president works "to attack" a drug abuse and overdose crisis that has touched Biden's own family via the president's son Hunter.
Despite the fact that an average of 300 Americans overdose every day in this country and Biden's own DEA reports that criminal drug organizations are "flooding" the United States with deadly drugs from Mexico, the White House refused to accept any responsibility.
"We are doing the job of catching the traffickers," Jean-Pierre insisted before saying that Biden can "see those same numbers" of American overdoses that continue to spike. "We are securing the border," she said growing more impatient with the line of questioning.
KJP details how Biden is attempting to stop drug overdoses:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 31, 2022
"We are securing the border...we are securing record levels of funding...it's not just drug traffickers that we're dealing with...this is what's happening under this administration." pic.twitter.com/eYvyWgA7uH
"This is something that the president cares about," Jean-Pierre continued while heralding Biden's work to supposedly ensure "our kids, our babies, our young Americans here in this country are not continuing to suffer."
Putting an exasperated exclamation point on her non-answer answer, Jean-Pierre said it is "falsely, categorically wrong" to say the Biden administration is not doing enough to address the fentanyl and drug crises that rage due to the open and unsecured U.S.-Mexico border.
"We are doing the work," Jean-Pierre again insisted before saying the Biden administration would be "happy to work with [Republicans]" on the issue.
Jean-Pierre then, after getting visibly rattled, declared she was "moving on" to someone else's question while ignoring follow up inquiries.
But her defensive attempt to blame Republicans — who are in the minority in both the House and Senate and do not control the White House — is especially rich given Karine Jean-Pierre's statement earlier in Wednesday's briefing about Republicans and Trump supporters.
Biden's press secretary called "MAGA Republicans" — some 70 million Americans — "an extreme threat to our democracy, to our freedom, to our rights." So why would the Biden administration want to work with people it believes are a mortal threat to "our democracy" (which is actually a constitutional federal republic). Republicans have tried repeatedly to legislate border security, but Biden and his party have squashed virtually every attempt.