The Biden White House is not happy with The New York Times, according to publisher A.G. Sulzberger, something Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed in a way with her non-answer of sorts aboard Air Force One during Tuesday's press gaggle. The New York times has dared to accurately cover the concerns with President Joe Biden's age and low approval ratings, but, there's even more examples. And, as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) pointed out during the Wednesday episode of "The Verdict," the podcast he co-hosts with Ben Ferguson, there's particular behaviors from the media here worth noticing.
Ferguson, in asking Cruz about how "the media seems to be turning on Joe Biden," emphasized "it is weird" to see. He mentioned coverage from The New York Times, but also The Washington Post, though Ferguson did take issue with how the latter outlet is trying to equate concerns with Biden and Donald Trump.
The episode included a soundbite from Fox News' "The Story With Martha MacCallum," as MacCallym called it "interesting" that there is "a theme that seems to be emerging in the coverage of this campaign" for president. As she read headlines such as "What We Know About Cognitive Decline," "What Happens if Trump or Biden can no Longer Run for President?," and "How Old is Too Old to be President?," MacCallum noted that "these are not your typical election year headlines, but this is clearly not a typical election year matchup if it turns out to be these two presumed nominees."
Not only did MacCallum remind how the White House is "extremely upset" with The New York Times, but also of a concerning exchange between Biden and reporters as he left for Los Angeles on Tuesday.
When asked if California Gov. Gavin Newsom needs to "be ready to standby" to be a "Plan B," Biden gave a nonsensical answer involving a response to the reporter of "Well I'm looking for--I'm looking at you. We're looking at you."
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
Ferguson pointed out "Biden didn't even know what they were talking about," with Cruz adding Biden's answer "was bizarre... a non sequitur [and] "it made no sense." As he noted "you can see the media flipping on him," Ferguson asked Cruz if "this the beginning of the end of his presidency with the Democratic Party figuring out how to offload him."
There does look to be something to it. Cruz offered "I do think we are seeing the corporate media starting to turn on Joe Biden," as he also reminded "it was this podcast that drove news and drove news across the country, when we said months ago that I believe there was a very significant chance the Democrat Party would pull the cord on Joe Biden yank him out and replace him with Michelle Obama." The senator also reminded that "I think if they do that, they're likely to do it either at the Democratic convention this summer, or shortly thereafter."
Cruz has gone through different levels of predicting the likelihood that Biden will be replaced as the nominee over the months when discussing Biden's cognitive decline on the podcast. Last September, Cruz believed there was a 25-30 percent chance that Biden wouldn't be the nominee, with that number growing to 45-50 percent last month. Earlier this month, Cruz revealed he now thinks by 65-35 percent, Biden will not be the nominee.
The senator made another thoughtful point about how noteworthy it is that the media is turning on Biden, as they're "one in the same with the Democrat party, but in many ways, they're the left-wing of the Democrat Party."
Especially with headlines like the one mentioned above, Cruz pointed out that the media are "starting to get nervous, they're starting to realize 'crap, if it's Biden against Trump, we think Trump's gonna win.' And so, they're hitting the panic button. And I think we're going to see more of these stories as the media turns on him. I do think you're seeing both Democrats and the media getting very, very worried about Joe Biden's ability to win in November.
Ferguson pointed out how the media turning on Biden represents "a significant of a change in the news cycle," especially since he's "had three years of basically a media that's been covering for him." That's why he believes Biden was "so shocked" when the report from Special Counsel Robert Hur came out earlier this month revealing he was too old to charge, which led to "that very angry, really dysfunctional press conference February 8 press conference Biden had that same night the report came out. It was after that press conference that Cruz actually increased his prediction that Biden wouldn't be the nominee, and would be replaced by Michelle Obama.
In pointing out "the media didn't get back in line since then," now three weeks later, Ferguson looked to confirm who it was that was "moving the needle."
Cruz replied with a rather nuanced about why it is there is such a concern about Biden still running. "Understand the Democrats and the media would be perfectly happy if they could wave a wand and put Joe Biden there four years or more. They're not worried that he's incompetent to be president. They're not worried that the Department of Justice says he's not competent to stand trial. They're not worried that he's such a weak commander in chief that our enemies are attacking our allies and threatening America. They're not worried that he lacks the competence to do the job. There's only one thing they're worried about: that he would lose," Cruz pointed out. "If they believed he would win, they'd be perfectly fine to "Weekend at Bernie's" him to stand him up as a corpse and say Joe Biden's there and let's keep pulling the puppet strings. Their concern is they're worried he's going to lose. And that is a very real and acute concern on their part."
Polling indeed looks competitive for a Biden-Trump matchup, especially in key battleground states. RealClearPolling currently has Trump with a +1.9 lead, with 46.1 percent to Biden's 44.2 percent.
Cruz spoke about his own experience with the press, especially as a conservative Republican senator being "used to just getting a constant barrage of attacks." The late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who, while praised by the press at times for going after his fellow Republicans, was shocked to see them turn on him when he ran for president.
In talking about how McCain "was completely startled," Cruz noted "it's the same sentiment Biden's having" in that "when you're used to just getting your hindquarters kissed by the media, when they start biting, you don't know how to handle it."
As encouraging as such accurate and objective from the mainstream media seem for the time being, Cruz issued a clear warning to not expect it to last if Biden is indeed the nominee.
"If he stays the nominee, they'll get back in line and they'll immediately begin saying it's ageist and racist and horrible to even ask these questions, and they have no shame," Cruz told Ferguson. "So, this is the moment where they're trying to see if they can push him out and replace him with Michelle Obama. If they can't, if he doesn't go if we get to September and Biden's the nominee, the media will suddenly be completely silent on this front and will attack anyone who dares raise the same questions they're raising right now."
Will Schumer REFUSE to Try Mayorkas, plus the Media Turns on Biden. @benfergusonshow and I break down the latest on the Mayorkas impeachment and the Biden White House on Verdict. Available wherever you get your podcasts.https://t.co/IUfx8oVbRp
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 21, 2024
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