I’m going to preface this with a disclaimer. I didn’t watch the entire press conference. I have watched some of the excerpts however. I am not going to link to the entire thing, if you so choose to watch, it is available elsewhere.
66 days. That is how long it took Joe to hold his first presser. That is the longest in more than 100 years. And what did we get for all that delay? Not much.
Team Biden called a “lid” fairly early for the past few days so Joe could prepare. All the prep didn’t seem to help much. Nor did the convention busting binder Biden used.
Johnathan Allen is a “reporter” for NBC news in case you were wondering. I don’t know what universe John lives in, but it isn’t this one if he thought Biden was doing well at any point during this mess. That said, even he noticed that Joe wasn’t doing well after a bit.
It is abundantly clear Joe is dealing with diminished mental capacity. He cannot rember basic personal information.
He faced no tough questions and one fawning fangirl, NPR’s Amiche Alcindor asked if the border surge was due to him being a “moral and decent man”. The one reporter who has asked the tough questions of the biden administration, Fox’s Peter Doocy, wasn’t even called on. This despite the fact Fox is the most watched cable news network.
At one point Biden was asked a question about North Korea. One would think that Joe would have some thoughts on the matter, seeing as North Korea just resumed ballistic missile testing. Instead what we got was some pablum about diplomacy and consulting our allies. Worse, the answer was read directly from the briefing book Biden had at the podium.
It also seems that the questions he took had been pre-cleared with his handlers. He definitely called on people froma prepared list.
At one point, he became agitated when ABC News reporter Cecilia Vega brought up the conditions in the illegal immigrant detention facilities. “You mentioned circumstances that must be horrific. The Customs and Border Protection facility in Donna, Texas — I was there — is at 1556% capacity right now with mostly unaccompanied minors. There are kids that are sleeping on floors, they are packed into these pods,” Vega began. “I’ve spoken to lawyers who say that some of these children have not seen the sun in days. What is your reaction to these images that have come out from that particular facility? Is what’s happening inside acceptable to you? And when is this going to be fixed?”
“That’s a serious question, right? If it’s acceptable to me? Come on,” Biden snapped.