Not Really Much Pressing Going On At Today’s Presser

 

Today I watched President Biden’s “press conference” if you could call it that.  This was frightening on so many levels.  Let me touch on a few.

First, it was clear that Biden was not really present, not in the moment and not in the bigger picture of the issues about which he was supposedly talking.  He lost his train of thought too frequently and too often read an answer to a different question than that which was asked.  And yet this man is our president, the leader of the free world.  That should alarm us all.

A commentator before the press conference noted that Biden had been practicing for this event for several days.  Wow.  If he had been practicing the names of those reporters who were listed in his notes to call on, he did not do very well.  If he were practicing the canned answers that he clearly had available in his notes, he did not do very well.  If he were practicing receiving signals from some aide in the room or otherwise connected to him, he did not do very well.  And, on another note, how can one practice answers to what are supposedly spontaneous questions?

The syrupy answers he gave were full of nothing more than campaign talk and promises.  He said he would address and fix any number of things but gave specifics to none – no details about the problem or the nature of the promised fix.  Just promises:  I will get to that, I plan on making progress on that, I will get to all those problems, don’t worry.

He said his focus was on Covid and seemed to tell us that he could only address one issue at a time.  Yet it was not clear what he is actually doing for Covid.  He had no problem taking credit for the number of vaccines given, something that is possible primarily due to the previous administration’s Operation Warp Speed.  The number of vaccines promised by the end of his first hundred days just continues that which Trump began; we should note that administration of the vaccine began prior to when Biden took office.  Yet Biden did not have the common decency to give any credit to his predecessor, even though he kept telling us that he himself is a “nice guy.”

Any actual seemingly factual information that Biden presented was for the most part erroneous.  For example, the surge at the border is not the same as it has been in years prior to his taking office.  Unaccompanied minors have come to the border in far greater numbers than those stated by Biden. According to statistics published by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, authorities encountered 9,457 children without a parent in February, a 61% increase from January, not 28% as Biden stated.  Moreover, while some seasonal trends in migration do exist, migrants interviewed by The Associated Press have expressed their understanding that the country would be more permissive to migrants under Biden than under Trump, and thus they come.

Biden kept telling us that he is such a humanitarian, a good guy.  He seemed to deny that there is any problem at the border.  Yet the cages are overflowing.  Unaccompanied minors are being sent by the thousands to large spaces like convention centers to live in crowded and unhealthy conditions.  Covid positive migrants are being bussed throughout our country.  Illegal immigration is off the charts.  Migrants are being bussed and dumped around the country in cities and towns that do not have the resources to care for them or the issues associated by this sudden influx.  This is not nice, and it is not humanitarian.

In campaign, not presidential, mode Biden made sure to trash the previous administration as well as current Republicans.  His figures about the Trump tax cuts were inaccurate and then he used those misleading figures to make a case against Republicans and their concern for the working class, a class that was in many ways lifted by the Trump administration and a variety of Republican policies.

Similarly, he claimed lack of bipartisanship of the Republicans while admitting that he, by his own choice, is not meeting with them.  He completely distorted the substance of the Voting Bill and what it is that each side is really fighting for.  (The reality is that Democrats would remove all state control and nearly all methods of ensuring only legitimate voters vote, while Republicans would maintain and strengthen a variety of procedures that ensure election integrity.)

Beyond the many misstatements (some would say lies), some of which are noted above, Biden seemed to take credit for what is already going on as if it were some great accomplishment of his own.  I mentioned the vaccines above.  Another example is his promise that he would now require that calls regarding minors at the border would occur within 48 hours.  According to Border officials, that requirement is already in place and was followed throughout the entirety of the prior administration’s control.

Biden wanted to show us he is a nice guy.  In fact, he told he is a nice guy – over and over and over.  That he is not like his predecessor because he is so calm and nice.  Well, great.  But that does not mean that he can lead the country or that he has any clue about what is really going on.

But the press conference is not solely about the president.  It is also about the reporters.  Anyone who watched a Trump presser is aware that the press core would not let him finish a sentence without attacking him with one or another allegation.  There was little if any respect shown for the man or the office.  Despite the press hatred for him, Trump called on reporters from both the Left and the Right, as well as the foreign press.   He answered their questions directly along with their antagonistic follow-ups and was clearly on top of what was going on, whether you liked his answers or not.

Here, we had very few reporters called on, and apparently someone (Biden or his handlers) had listed the names of whom would be called.  They were on one of the papers on Biden’s podium.  Whether these reporters’ questions had been vetted beforehand we will likely never know. 

What we do know is that the reporters were not the same attack dogs that attended Trump pressers.  Where was the Jim Acosta style reporter to harass and interrupt before the president could get a word out?  Indeed, where were any interruptions or meaningful follow ups?  Today’s “reporters” allowed the President to ramble for as long as he wanted, even if what he was rambling about had absolutely nothing to do with the question asked.  And those questions – could they have been any more friendly and soft?  Perhaps the press lost its ability be assertive in its questioning when faced with this clearly fragile and perhaps senile old man. 

In the end, this presser was about what I expected it would be – a big lot of nothing.  Biden knew nothing.  Biden said nothing – nothing that was true or specific or more than a fluffy promise.  The reporters asked nothing.  It was to some extent (how much we will never know) rehearsed.  Just a big lot of political show.

Which brings me to perhaps the most frightening thing of all:  why don’t the people see what is going on?  Why don’t they see this presidency for what it is?  Do they really fall for Biden’s syrupy smooth talk and his promises that he will make us all happy?  C’mon Man!  Wake up.  Biden is cluelessly destroying America but we the people are allowing him to do it.  And no one seems to notice or to care. That is terrifying.