As RedState reported Monday, it would appear the knives are out for President Joe Biden in certain Democratic circles with fresh reporting from Axios painting a picture of Biden which is at odds with the public persona he, his handlers, and his enablers in the mainstream press have helped craft over his 50+ years in public office.
In it, we learned that in private, Biden’s “admonitions include: ‘God d*mmit, how the f**k don’t you know this?!,’ ‘Don’t f**king bullsh*t me!’ and ‘Get the f**k out of here!’” and that “Biden has such a quick-trigger temper that some aides try to avoid meeting alone with him. Some take a colleague, almost as a shield against a solo blast.”
Though there are likely additional reasons why some staffers do their best to “avoid meeting alone” with Biden, the report solidified much of what Biden’s critics have been observing about him and his history of nasty behavior for decades.
(READ: About That Whole ‘Joe Biden Is a Decent Guy’ Myth…)
After the news broke, CNN fill-in anchor Laura Coates held what amounted to a struggle session with Alex Thompson, the Axios reporter who broke the news. During their back-and-forth exchange, Coates repeatedly expressed her surprise tha the Biden “we know” isn’t who Biden really is behind closed doors:
COATES: This runs really counter to the image that most people I think would have of President Biden. How are we knowing this? I mean, how do you get the reporting? Who is complaining about this? Is it current, former staff? Who?
THOMPSON: Both. Current, former, and by former I mean former White House staff, current White House and administration staff. Plus, you even have people going back, you know, we had a headline today, we called it old yeller. But I can confirm to you that Joe Biden was a young yeller, too. And so, we even talked to staff that went back to the early 2000s. And the fact is that this is a guy that has been professionally staffed for more than half of his life, and he’s had a long life. So, it’s been over 50 years where he’s had people staffing him. And as a result, there’s a generational difference, too. Yup, he’s really, really tough on staff.
And he already had that, as he calls, you know, get his Irish up. He already had that Irish temper, you know, really lay into people and in some cases, you know, make them feel humiliated, make them feel embarrassed, and really feel like and truly be cussed out.
Watch:
CNN really struggled with the report that Biden yells at his staffer. Axios's Alex Thompson noted the difference "he calls, you know, get his Irish up. He already had that Irish temper." Laura Coates adds "Many might be surprised by this"(1/2) pic.twitter.com/FdVb2RLiXH
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 11, 2023
Next, Coates pointed to the video of Biden on the first day of his administration promising in the name of supposedly restoring civility to fire “on the spot” any staffers who treated another person with disrespect, and contrasted it with the Axios news:
COATES: Many might be surprised by this because you might recall when he spoke about respect and dignity and the idea that if you’re working with him, if you act in that way, you get fired. Well, listen to what he had to say.
COATES: Okay, so there has been different sides we have certainly seen. Why are we just hearing this now though? If you’re talking about this reputation or the idea of more than 50 years worth of staffing. Has this been known throughout Washington and it’s just not been covered, or this is something that’s now become an issue?
THOMPSON: So, there’s a few different pieces to this. One is that Joe Biden, because he’s been in the public life 50 years, he knows the difference between a public persona and a private persona. And he’s a very, you know, he didn’t become president by accident, right? I mean, that requires a level of public persona skill that sometimes is different than your private persona.
In this case, why it’s so interesting is that his public persona leans so much on him being civil, on his civility. And that clip you just showed about, you know, the standard he was setting for his White House, I can tell you some former Biden administration aides don’t think that he’s lived up even to his own standard.
Watch:
Thompson later adds "he didn't become president by accident, right? I mean, that requires a level of public persona skill that sometimes is different than your private persona…also the fact that he does actually have that compassionate, generous side.
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 11, 2023
(2/2) pic.twitter.com/Bn8YSOLlIv
It should be noted that the only known time Biden did end up taking action towards someone for showing disrespect it was his then-deputy press secretary T.J. Ducklo in early 2021, who it was discovered threatened to “destroy” then-Politico reporter Tara Palmeri for working on a story about his relationship Axios reporter Alexi McCammond and how it raised conflict of interest questions. But Biden initially gave Ducklo a mere one-week suspension, only forcing him into “resigning” after he was reminded of what he pledged on inauguration day.
Ducklo, I should point out, is now back with the Biden team, in a senior comms adviser role for Biden’s reelection campaign.
In any event, while it’s good to see CNN of all places acknowledge the story about Biden’s legendary Angry Man outbursts (both the public and private ones), discerning readers should note that CNN maybe could have figured all of this out during Biden’s 2020 presidential run had they been busy actually covering Biden and not covering for him.
Just sayin’.
