On Monday, we highlighted how the Biden White House is "extremely upset" about coverage from The New York Times, according to its publisher, A.G. Sulzberger, as he revealed in an interview with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. The issue stems from the outlet daring to provide accurate coverage of concerns with President Joe Biden, specifically, his age and mental capabilities, as our nation's oldest president insists he's running for reelection.
As a reminder, Sulzberger mentioned, "We are going to continue to report fully and fairly, not just on Donald Trump but also on President Joe Biden." Speaking of Biden, he pointed out, "He is a historically unpopular incumbent and the oldest man to ever hold this office. We've reported on both of those realities extensively, and the White House has been extremely upset about it." That interview was addressed during a press gaggle aboard Air Force One on Tuesday, as White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre took questions on the way to Los Angeles.
Mentioning how Sulzberger received "flack from the White House," a reporter asked what Jean-Pierre thinks "is fair game when covering the nation's oldest president and what might be off limits."
As one of the "couple of things" that Jean-Pierre was willing to discuss, the press secretary pointed out, "You all ask me pretty regularly about the president's age, and we lay out what our perspective is," which is certainly one way to put it that she often dodges such questions and provides non-answers. These pertinent questions have only increased as concerns about Biden's age have become more relevant as he frequently spaces out and mixes up world leaders. Special Counsel Robert Hur's report also found Biden was too old to charge for his mishandling of classified documents.
"We lay out what we see – we've seen this president do in the last three years, which is deliver on a historic piece of legislation that's going to change the lives of Americans for generations to come," Jean-Pierre claimed.
As is often the case, Jean-Pierre barely answered the question. Further, what answer she did provide to the specific question came when she quoted former publisher Margaret Sullivan.
"To your question, more specifically, about The New York Times coverage, is that display – what we believe a journalistic objectivity about coverage of the president's age speaks to why we agree with former New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan. Jean-Pierre quoted Sullivan as saying, "Maybe The Times and other major media outlets ought to look in the mirror," and that "self-scrutiny and course correction are not among their core strengths." Without expanding on how this applies, Jean-Pierre noted, "And I'll leave it there," before moving on.
It is, of course, an objective reality that Biden is our nation's oldest president at 81 years old, and he's not getting any younger. He'll turn 82 just days after the November election, and, if he's reelected and serves a full second term, he'll be 86 years old.
ATTACK ON THE FREE PRESS: Karine Jean-Pierre says The New York Times' "journalistic objectivity" is in question after they did a couple stories about Biden's obvious physical and cognitive decline pic.twitter.com/YLFWLUPggb
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 20, 2024
As we mentioned in Monday's coverage, the narrative from the Biden White House and Biden reelection campaign looks to be that his age is a strength, as it provides wisdom and experience. Jean-Pierre couldn't even address that much, as she instead went for bringing up an unnamed "historic piece of legislation."
Just a few days before this press gaggle and the interview became news, the Biden campaign trotted out campaign surrogates for the Sunday shows, including Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).
During his appearance on CBS News's "Face the Nation," Clyburn was asked by host Robert Costa, "How should [Biden] handle the issue in question of age in the coming months?" Costa also pointed out that the 83-year-old Clyburn is running for reelection, although he's leaving Democratic leadership.
"Emphasize your experience, emphasize the wisdom, maintain your connections with folks," Clyburn offered. He then went on to complain about the weather in New York, where he was traveling, adding he was also going to swing by the states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia.
Although Clyburn claimed he's "carrying the president's message of experience of a steady hand of maintaining our trek toward a more perfect union" and "doing the things that are necessary to maintain our relationships around the world and move this country forward, on behalf of all," we've hardly been more polarized, partisan, or divided. And Biden and his fellow Democrats surely aren't helping as they demonize political opponents and use the weaponized and politicized Department of Justice against not only Donald Trump but average concerned citizens.
"I am fond of saying this is a great country in no need of being made great. We just got to figure out ways to make this country's greatness accessible and affordable for all of our citizens. And Joe Biden is doing that. And we have got to stay focused on that," Clyburn added, despite the issue of inflation and high costs that Americans continue to suffer under during Biden's presidency.
How should President Biden handle the issue of his age in the 2024 election?
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) February 18, 2024
"Emphasize your experience, emphasize the wisdom," @RepJamesClyburn says, adding that Biden's message is "of experience, of a steady hand, of maintaining our trek toward a more perfect union." pic.twitter.com/eRieRL1TN0
Clyburn was instrumental in Biden winning not just the South Carolina primary in 2020 but also the Democratic presidential nomination, especially after Biden had disappointing losses up to that point, coming in third in Iowa and fifth in New Hampshire. He's been on the campaign trail quite a bit this time, as well, and it looks like we will see Clyburn and that narrative keep coming up so long as Biden is still running for reelection.
Klobuchar had a more involving exchange with host Kristen Welker while on NBC News's "Meet the Press." When asked about the possibility of the White House releasing the transcript from the special counsel interviews, Klobuchar harped on trying to refute the finding about Biden being an "elderly man with a poor memory."
After quickly offering that "that is going to be, again, up to the president and his lawyers," Klobuchar tried to argue that the president was with it because of an experience she had after meeting with him "for over an hour" during which they "talked about so many things, domestic, international."
"He was focused. His recall was good. It was the same experience that my colleagues had who met with him for hours, Democrats and Republicans, about the Mideast only a few weeks ago," Klobuchar offered, before trying to rush to talk about Biden's supposed accomplishments.
Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar defends Biden's obvious cognitive decline: "I was with the president for over an hour ... he was focused, his recall was good!" pic.twitter.com/MpZgBOAsPc
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 18, 2024
Although Sulzberger's interview and Sullivan's response that Jean-Pierre hid behind didn't come up, Welker did bring up weekend coverage from The New York Times's Ezra Klein, who raised in an audio essay that "Democrats Have a Better Option Than Biden."
Klein's essay led to Democrats in disarray, as Pod Saves America's Jon Favreau posted on his X account how he thought it raised some thoughtful points, receiving plenty of less than charitable responses in turn, with one user even calling him one of the "pod bro doofuses."
"As you know, concerns have been growing from quite some time within your party about President Biden's ability to win a second term. The latest person to express this, Ezra Klein of The New York Times, who said this week, quote, 'He is not up for this. He is not the campaigner he was even five years ago. The way he moves, the energy in his voice. The Democrats denying decline are only fooling themselves.' Senator, what is your reaction to that stark assessment?" Welker asked.
Klobuchar, again touting her own experience with Biden, including how she ran in 2020 for president in the Democratic Party, claimed Biden "is up for this job." She went on to claim she "just keep looking at the facts" to sell Biden's supposed accomplishments while warning about the "stark difference" from Republicans, which included referring to abortion as "health care." She also applauded Biden for "finally doing something at the border on a bipartisan basis and giving the president the emergency powers that he needs," despite Biden already having such authority, and "standing up against election deniers."
The rest of the interview, Klobuchar spewed false narratives from the Biden administration as she admitted she couldn't even hear the questions because she kept trying to talk over Welker.
Biden's handling of Tuesday didn't help any of these narratives in his favor. As Spencer covered, the president tripped climbing the stairs to board Air Force One – despite them being shorter this time – not once, but seemingly twice. He also gave a nonsensical answer when asked about California Gov. Gavin Newsom potentially being a "Plan B."
VIGOR: Biden almost trips (twice) as he boards Air Force One — despite using the short stairs to avoid tripping pic.twitter.com/CkoLnwLV2q
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 20, 2024
REPORTER: "You're going to California. Is this about coming up with a Plan B for 2024 — does Gavin need to standby?"
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 20, 2024
BIDEN: "Are you ready? Well I'm looking for— I'm looking at you. We're looking at you."
*gets confused* pic.twitter.com/rmbbImjUT3
