President Joe Biden has reportedly made contradictory comments that “baffle” his aides. The report comes as Biden receives bad news about his re-election.
The bizarre and sometimes completely untrue comments that President Joe Biden makes to the press are said to “baffle, rankle, and worry” his aides, who are left on their own to “explain or contradict” them, according to a lengthy report that was published by Reuters on Tuesday.
There is a conflict between the open-mic disclosures made by Biden and the White House system that was designed to keep him on script. Biden, who is 81 years old, frequently makes political gaffes, some of which include, but are not limited to:
- Stated his favorite memory of 2023 was the alleged improvement of the U.S. economy
- Claimed he never met with Hunter Biden’s associates, despite photo evidence
- Said Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power”
- Maintained he only had six grandchildren, ignoring Hunter Biden’s out-of-wedlock child
- Declared twice that his son died in Iraq
According to Reuters, White House staffers provide note cards to President Biden and urge that he stick to a pre-written script in order to decrease the number of errors that occur. His prepared comments are normally “crafted and vetted” by a number of advisors before being communicated to the public. It is their responsibility to rectify the public relations mess that occurs whenever Biden makes a mistake.
“They [aides] often struggle to shift attention back to the administration’s message of the day, or explain why Biden’s comments are seemingly at odds with official U.S. policy,” Reuters reported. “Biden’s public speeches are carefully crafted and vetted, spontaneous exchanges with reporters are limited and he rarely holds full-blown news conferences,” the report continued. “When he does, some of his answers appear to be written down ahead of time and read aloud.”
Reuters was informed by several of Biden’s aides that much of his loose talk takes place while he is attempting to “test drive lines and thoughts that he may use later in public with a friendly crowd.” However, the aides did not appear to cite any particular examples to substantiate their assertion.
The report couldn’t have come at a worse time. Polling released by a variety of news agencies across the political spectrum reveals devastating news for Team Biden:
- Quinnipiac: 66 percent say Biden is too old to serve a second term
- Fox News: 54 percent of Democrat primary voters prefer an alternative to Biden
- FiveThirtyEight: Joe Biden is the least popular president in modern history
- CNN: Majority say there is “no chance” they would vote for Biden in 2024
Despite the difficulties, President Joe Biden asserted that the American people can trust his words. “No one ever doubts I mean what I say,” Biden told donors in September. “The problem is I sometimes say all that I mean.”
At a fundraiser in December, Biden, who is 81 years old, hinted that he might not have launched his re-election campaign if Republican Donald Trump, whom he defeated in 2020, was not also running for office. This was a dissonant message for a campaign struggling to overcome worries about his age and poor approval ratings. Trump is 77 years old.
